Biography of Tyla Laura Seethal was born on January 30, 2002, in Edenvale, Gauteng, to a family of Indian descent. She grew up in Johannesburg and graduated from Edenglen High School in 2019, where she served as head of culture.She began seeking visibility by posting covers of various songs on YouTube, then sending them to various music celebrities on Instagram, which led to her first manager noticing her. She was discovered by her first manager, Garth von Glehn, who arranged her first recording sessions. Beginnings and First Successes (2019-2022)In 2019, the year she enrolled at Edenglen High School, she recorded and released her debut single, “Getting Late,” in collaboration with Kooldrink. The official music video for the song was released in January 2021 and quickly garnered several million views. Thanks to her success in her home country, she earned a nomination for Video of the Year at the 2022 South African Music Awards.
Meanwhile, she was pursuing her studies in mining engineering, and after much persuasion, her parents agreed to let Tyla take a gap year from her studies to try to launch her music career. She later signed with the US label Epic Records and released the singles “Overdue” and “Too Late.” Tyla and international success: Tyla’s first public performance took place in 2023 at the Dolce & Gabbana afterparty during Milan Fashion Week. On January 27 of the same year, she released the single “Been Thinking,” which earned the singer her first major chart positions. She was later selected as a guest artist for the European leg of Chris Brown’s Under the Influence Tour. In May 2023, she released the single “Girl Next Door,” featuring Nigerian singer Ayra Starr.
She subsequently released the single “Water,” which marked a turning point in her career: the song reached the top 10 on several charts worldwide, including in Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. On the Billboard Hot 100, this achievement made Tyla the first South African artist to reach the top 10 in 55 years, following Hugh Masekela’s “Grazing in the Grass.” Tyla performed “Water” live on The Bianca Show in Sweden and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in the United States. The singer later appeared on the remix version of Summer Walker’s hit “Girls Need Love,” titled “Girls Mix.”
In February 2024, “Water” was awarded the newly established Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance, making Tyla the youngest African artist ever to win the prestigious music award. The singer’s self-titled debut album was released in March, further promoted by the singles “Truth or Dare,” “Art,” “Jump,” and “Push 2 Start.” Subsequently, the singer received the most nominations at the 18th Metro FM Music Awards in South Africa, with six nominations. She then won the most awards at the 2024 BET Awards, tied with Usher and Victoria Monét, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, where she performed “Jump” live for the first time with Gunna and Skillibeng. At the end of October, Tyla performed at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, while in November, “Push 2 Start” and “Water” were performed at the MTV Europe Music Awards, where Tyla won three awards: Best African Artist, Best Afrobeats Artist, and Best R&B Artist, respectively. On December 5 and 7, 2024, Tyla held two concerts in her native South Africa, in Cape Town and Pretoria respectively, where a date for her second album was added on January 18, 2025. In February 2025, the singer guested with Thai rapper Lisa on the song When I’m with You, contained in her colleague Alter Ego’s debut studio album.
In April, she appeared on a remixed version of WizTheMc’s song “Show Me Love,” which she performed for the first time at the Coachella Music Festival, where she also premiered her single “Bliss,” officially released on May 9. In June, she hosted the annual Kids’ Choice Awards and contributed “Everything Goes with Blue” to the soundtrack of The Smurfs Movie. On July 11, 2025, she released the single “Is It,” and two days later, she guested on the album JackBoys 2 by the collective of the same name and with rapper Travis Scott on the track “PBT.” Bliss and “Is It” were later included on her EP WWP (short for “We Wanna Party”), released on July 25. The singer described it as “a bridge to the second album,” scheduled for release in late 2025 and featuring “a completely different vibe than what people are expecting.
In September, Tyla attended the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, where she won the award for Best Afrobeats Video for “Push 2 Start,” marking her second win in the category after winning the award for “Water” the previous year. On October 24, 2025, Tyla released the unreleased song “Chanel,” which she began promoting at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, wearing an archive Chanel dress from 1993 on the red carpet. Tyla aspired to the music of Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, and Cassie. The singer stated in an interview that she wanted to become the first global pop star from the African continent. The success of “Water” has earned her the title of “queen of poppiano,” a fusion of pop and amapiano genres infused with elements of R&B and Afrobeat.
Discography
Album
2024 – Tyla
EP
2025 – WWP
Singles
- 2019 – Getting Late (feat. Kooldrink)
- 2021 – Overdue (feat. DJ Lag & Kooldrink)
- 2022 – Too Late
- 2023 – Been Thinking
- 2023 – Girl Next Door (feat. Ayra Starr)
- 2023 – Water
- 2023 – Truth or Dare
- 2024 – Art
- 2024 – Jump (con Gunna e Skillibeng)
- 2024 – Push 2 Start (solo o con Sean Paul)
- 2025 – Bliss
- 2025 – Is It
- 2025 – Dynamite (con Wizkid)
- 2025 – PBT (con Travis Scott e Vybz Kartel)
- 2025 – Chanel
