The success of ‘Water’ and ‘Chanel’ has propelled Tyla to become one of the foremost ambassadors of South African pop on the international stage, and, in the process, has helped bring amapiano to a wider audience. While her music clearly draws from this genre, she also translates it into a more pop and R&B language, with radio-friendly structures and a finish crafted to transcend playlists and borders.
The good news is that this pop translation doesn’t strip her of an ounce of elegance, something that becomes evident once again in her new album, boldly titled ‘A*POP’, as if aiming to condense contemporary African pop into its ultimate expression. The not-so-good news is that the album ends up stretching that same formula too far, barely deviating from its own confines.
Predominant are sensual, hypnotic atmospheres, the chorus-heavy hooks, the signature amapiano log drums, and Tyla’s velvety voice. There are also lyrics that, while not escaping the pop playbook, repeatedly circle the quest for a relationship that blends commitment, desire, and fun: Tyla asks her partner to “water my roots” in ‘Is It Love’, confesses in ‘Kiss’ that she is “trying to fall in love,” or fantasizes about a true love in ‘Fairytale’.
The album also opens up to adjacent styles such as digital dancehall or South African deep house, one of amapiano’s natural precursors, without forgetting the1990s-inspired yet updated R&B. Productions and melodies are crafted with refined taste, though that meticulousness of atmosphere isn’t always enough to make every track stand out.
In fact, ‘Chanel’ doesn’t even define the album’s sound: relegated to track 11, it nearly functions as an exception within a much more restrained repertoire. If you embrace Tyla’s proposition, based on understated songs and a mood that remains constant rather than on big eruptions, you may find yourself hooked by the most unexpected cut. It can happen with the Caribbean-flavored ‘Is It Love’, with the glitchy R&B production of ‘Right Now’ or with the refined contemporary dancehall of ‘Mr. Nonchalant’ and ‘That Girl’, two of the most inspired productions on the record.
That very intention to sound accessible both helps and hinders the album. On one hand it yields tracks with clear potential for hits like ‘Is It’ or small gems such as the sensual R&B of ‘Feel Something’, which at times recalls FKA twigs or Kelela. On the other hand, a significant portion of the repertoire sounds overly contained. Songs like ‘Crazy for Me’ feel redundant and end up giving the impression of listening to a sequence of quarters or fifth singles.
That impression is reinforced because tracks like ‘Chanel’ or ‘She Did It Again’ with Zara Larsson embrace mainstream pop without reservation and end up eclipsing the rest of the repertoire. One of the album’s best ideas appears in ‘Fairytale’, which samples Liquideep’s iconic title track, a reference in South African deep house released in 2010 and one of the sounds that would eventually lead to amapiano. It’s a tasteful nod and a reclamation of South African musical tradition, though the sample alone doesn’t fully elevate the song.
‘Fairytale’ hints at the album that ‘A*POP’ could have been. As you wait for tracks like the dancehall of ‘Double Blind’ or the more club-focused cut of ‘Kiss’ to click, it feels as though none quite fully explodes. Perhaps a greater openness to longer structures and the more immersive township amapiano character, represented by figures like DJ Maphorisa or Vigro Deep, would have allowed the album to escape the expectations of global pop and sound less contained.
It isn’t about asking Tyla for a record she never intended to make. But a small dose of risk could have yielded a more surprising work, perhaps also more divisive, and certainly more memorable. What ultimately ‘A*POP’ offers is a collection of mainstream African pop produced and sung with exquisite taste. As elegant as it is consistent, but also so faithful to its formula that it ends up exhausting it too soon.
