Grammy Award-Winning South African Singer Tyla Addresses Controversy Surrounding Her Race
Tyla Clears The Air After Dodging ‘Colourism’ Question On The Breakfast Club
Grammy Award-winning South African singer Tyla has addressed the controversy surrounding her racial identity, affirming she has not rejected her black heritage.
Tyla is the youngest African artist to win a Grammy Award and has also earned nominations for a BRIT Award, a Soul Train Music Award, a MOBO Award, and two South African Music Awards. She has been dubbed the “Queen of Popiano”, a fusion of the pop and amapiano genres.
Tyla Laura Seethal, known mononymously as Tyla, is a South African singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Johannesburg, she signed with Epic Records in 2021 following the domestic success of her 2019 debut single, “Getting Late”.
- Born: January 30, 2002 (age 22 years), Johannesburg, South Africa
- Albums: Tyla
- Award: Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance (66th Annual Grammy Awards)
- Genres: Amapiano; R&B; pop;
- Instruments: Vocals
- Labels: Fax; Epic
The debate over Tyla’s ethnicity sparked in 2020 after a TikTok video where she expressed pride in her mixed heritage, referring to herself as a “proud colored South African woman.” This term, which carries different connotations in the United States due to its historical use during segregation, led to confusion and backlash from African Americans.
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In South Africa, the term “colored” is used to describe mixed-race individuals, a classification stemming from the country’s history of apartheid. Tyla, who has Irish, Indian, and Zulu ancestry, identifies as “colored” within this context.
During a recent interview on The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne the God, Tyla avoided discussing this sensitive topic, leading to mixed reactions on social media.
Tyla later clarified on her social media account that she embraces all aspects of her mixed heritage and understands the term’s varying significance around the world. She stated that while she is considered “colored” in South Africa, she may be identified as black elsewhere, acknowledging the cultural differences in racial classification.
Grammy Award-Winning South African Singer Tyla
The 22-year-old had been working towards a degree in Mining Engineering, but took a year off to prove to her parents that she could create a career in music. This paid off and she signed to Epic Records, with her big hit coming through as viral TikTok track ‘Water’ which shot to the top of the charts across the world.
