Breaking through the Afropiano sound even further in the mainstream, Tyla is the fitting artist to carry all of its characteristics with her natural sense of charismatic presence. While certainly a debut project with its debut project hangups, ‘TYLA’ still manages to immerse textured beats with Tyla’s inviting performances in mostly effective moments.
The direction that the Afrobeats sound will head into the 2020s has been a fascinating examination, especially with the Amapiano genre bubbling into the South African music landscape back in 2018. Notably, there is the current development of the Afropiano genre popped up even more since its origin points in the early 2010s, cross-pollinating both Afrobeats and Amapiano, blending their characteristics that eventually results in a sound that carves its dance roots with the pulping beats of the former and the shimmering house rhythms of the latter. While it has various ways to branch out while it is still in its developing stage, it is now starting to get picked up in the mainstream circles, most importantly with Tyla’s breakthrough in the scene, later catapulting herself through her breakthrough single ‘Water’ and using that advantage to put in the time to create her debut project, ‘TYLA’.
On Tyla’s self-titled debut, she immediately comes off self-assured with her presence as a performer and a songwriter, able to ride these textured and well-produced afropiano beats with the array of shuffling percussions, synths, and even spare acoustics that carries enough tune to let Tyla’s pretty Pop and R&B vocal touches to slip through. Singles like ‘Water’ and ‘Truth or Dare’ caress the melodies into full gear courtesy of excellent hooks, paired with Tyla’s vocal melodies creating a delightful tone across the record, a quality continuing further on the sandy and lighter setting of ‘On and On’, the glacial melodic movements with the hazy instrumentation on ‘Breathe Me’, as well as the hypnotic guitar passages of ‘Butterflies’ and ‘Priorities’ that accentuates the warm elements of those songs. While there are instances where the melodies become one note and stiff, song compositions become a bit brief - including the songs that have features that give a solid performance, most especially Tems that works incredibly well on the brief yet stunning ‘No.1’, and the momentum ending up faltering on the back half, the project manages to cultivate at least a consistent sonic palette and production that fits well with Tyla’s inviting charisma.
And that inviting presence allows the narrative to move in front of the stage. At first, it might just be an arc of Tyla seeking out new lovers on this project with a confidence that she does carry, yet it does dig deeper into some layers as she ends up being in faltering relationships, a frustrating situation for Tyla since when she does give out her love, she gives it wholeheartedly. Even then that does leave her exhausted, wherein giving so much of herself to her partners only leads to her not saving enough time and presence for her self, a complex feeling that is broken further on the last song, where Tyla reminisces on that heartbreak as she ends the overall arc being hurt and vulnerable, that sense of confidence feeling stripped away coming from that aftermath. Quite the solid arc, yet it does get blemished with how the back half of the album leans on simplistic flirtations and flexings that don’t deepen the narrative itself, where it could have added a sense of introspection or any details that expand the personal turmoil that will give the construction of the writing more emotional resonance.
A solid debut project that embeds the afropiano sonic tapestry into interesting crossroads, Tyla with her impressive presence as a performer is yet another conduit for the sound to progress onwards even deeper into the future, able to carry forth the evergrowing sound with her enveloping charisma that matches the textured beats and charming production efficiently. Not exactly a standout, however, as certain flubs in composition and writing make this album provide its weakest lows, unable for the album to go a bit sharper and stickier. Despite all of the aches she carries through, Tyla won’t back down. After all, she now has a future waiting ahead of her, something that will keep her moving ever forward.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Water’, ‘Truth or Dare’, ‘No.1’, ‘Breathe Me’, ‘Butterflies’, ‘Priorities’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Jump’