Tyla
Tyla Laura Seethal grew up in Johannesburg's East Rand in a musical family, absorbing American R&B and pop alongside South African amapiano and kwaito before releasing her 2019 debut single "Getting Late." Her 2023 breakout "Water" — built on amapiano's rolling log-drum swing fused with pop songcraft — became the first song by a South African soloist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 in 55 years and won the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance, crowning her the self-styled "Queen of Popiano."
Tyla has named Aaliyah among her biggest influences, and it comes through in her hushed, conversational vocal delivery — she rides the beat rather than oversinging it, favoring breath and restraint over big belted runs.
listen forPlay Aaliyah's skittering, whispered 'Are You That Somebody?' back to back with Tyla's 'On and On' — both keep the vocal low and intimate, tucked just behind a rhythm-forward, percussion-heavy track instead of riding on top of it.
Rihanna is one of the pop and R&B stars Tyla has named among her biggest influences; it comes through in Tyla's easy, dance-forward pop sensibility and her comfort fronting rhythm-heavy, Caribbean- and Afro-adjacent grooves rather than straight ballads.
listen forPlay Rihanna's breakout 'Pon de Replay,' which turned her Barbadian roots into a global dance-pop smash, then Tyla's 'Jump' — both keep the vocal cool and unbothered over a rolling, regionally rooted groove built for a worldwide dancefloor.
Tyla has said she first heard Kwiish SA's viral 'Iskhathi (Gong Gong)' during a free period at school and became instantly hooked on the log drum — a formative moment she's pointed to in explaining how amapiano got into her music. It surfaces as the rolling, syncopated low end and airy synth stabs under her vocal.
listen forPlay Kwiish SA's 'Iskhathi (Gong Gong),' all loping log drum and skeletal piano, then Tyla's 'Truth or Dare' — the same patient amapiano bounce, now carrying a pop hook.