Tyla, a budding international sensation, cites Afrobeats as one of her influences.
Tyla stands out among the young singers who have achieved international fame in 2023, with her breakthrough track 'Water' catapulting her to mainstream American stardom.
The South African sensation discussed the genres that influence her music, particularly her big hit 'Water,' in a recent interview with RollingStone. Tyla revealed that Amapiano, the dominating mainstream genre in South Africa, is at the heart of her smash tune. Amapiano has also made the transition to Nigeria, where it continues to dominate the Afrobeats scene.
Tyla also mentioned that R&B inspired her music, as she was influenced by both male and female R&B performers, as well as pop stars.
Tyla's track 'Water' has Afrobeats genre merging and arrangement, with Amapiano, R&B melodies, and Pop development. The emerging artist acknowledged the impact of Afrobeats in her work, citing Asake's usage of stacked voices as her favorite Afrobeats feature.
Stacked vocals are the use of several (crowd) vocals, similar to an orchestra, to deliver a segment of a song, such as a refrain. Asake popularised this aspect of Afrobeats with his spectacular chart-topping singles.
Asake's utilization of symphony vocals on numerous of his albums helped to distinguish his sound and led to his extraordinary chart-topping streak in 2022. Asake used orchestra in his first mainstream hit track 'Omo Ope' with Olamide, which he continued to use in his later releases.
Tyla's latest album, 'Truth or Dare,' contains an Afrobeats element as well, as it is a blend of Amapiano, House music, and R&B delivered through an Afrobeats-styled arrangement.
Tyla and Asake both had a highly successful 2023, with the former's smash track 'Water' peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Asake selling out the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena.
Both the budding South African sensation and the Nigerian superstar are in the running for Best African Music Performance at next year's Grammy Awards, which will be held on February 5, 2024.
