There was something fitting about hearing A*POP for the first time without a phone in sight.
On a warm late afternoon at the W Algarve in Portugal, the Atlantic breeze drifted through the room as South African media, Tyla’s label and creative team, fellow album collaborators, and a handful of invited guests gathered for what would become one of the most intimate listening experiences of the year. There were no cameras, no livestreams, and no opportunities to capture snippets for social media. The music was meant to exist only in the room — and, perhaps more importantly, in memory.
That decision changed everything.
After the listening session, Billboard Africa sat down with Tyla for an exclusive conversation during Afro Nation Portugal weekend (3-5 July), just under 24 hours after she delivered one of the festival’s standout performances. Relaxed yet self-assured, the two-time Grammy Award winner spoke less about chart positions and accolades than she did about identity, freedom and creating on her own terms.
If her debut album introduced the world to Tyla, A*POP feels like the moment she introduces herself.
“I’ve always wanted to be this pop star,” she told Billboard Africa. “But I hated feeling like I had to tailor myself to pop. I wanted to tailor pop to me instead.”
That philosophy ultimately became A*POP.
Rather than chasing an established definition of pop stardom, Tyla has built one rooted in South Africa while remaining globally fluent. It’s a subtle distinction, but one that sits at the heart of the album.
“I bring the ‘A’ to pop,” she explained. “It’s African pop. African music is pop music.”
It’s a statement that feels less like branding and more like intent.
Finding Herself in the Noise
Few artists experience the kind of acceleration Tyla has over the past three years.
Following the global explosion of “Water,” Grammy success, international tours, Coachella appearances and performances on some of the world’s biggest stages, expectations around her second album became almost impossible to ignore.
Yet throughout our conversation, Tyla never spoke about pressure in the traditional sense. Instead, she spoke about possibility. “I felt the highest of highs. I felt the lowest of lows. I felt confused. I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing,” she reflected on the year spent creating the album. “When I listen back now, I can hear exactly what state of mind I was in for each song.”
Rather than constructing A*POP as a carefully manufactured pop record, she describes it almost as something that assembled itself organically through lived experience. “I love that A*POP feels like an album that made itself.”
That emotional honesty becomes one of the album’s defining strengths.
An Album Finished Where it All Began
Although A*POP carries obvious international ambitions, its creative conclusion happened much closer to home.
Tyla revealed that the final stages of the album were completed during a writing camp in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, where studios were built outdoors among the surrounding bushveld.
“It was kind of in the bushes,” she laughed.
The unconventional setup, complete with cables running through trees and recording equipment woven into nature, was intentional. She wanted collaborators to experience the same environment she grew up visiting with her family.
“I wanted to connect with my inner child while making it,” she explained. “Every morning I woke up with monkeys… bugs… just nature.”
Rather than treating South Africa as simply her point of origin, Tyla made it part of the creative process itself. “It’s what brought the album full circle.”
Listening to the finished project after hearing that story, the connection feels obvious. Even when A*POP leans into glossy pop production, its foundation never loses sight of where it comes from.
A Room that Slowly Came Alive
That authenticity became impossible to ignore during the listening session. At first, everyone simply listened. Conversations disappeared almost immediately as the opening records played through the room. By the time “THAT GIRL” arrived as the second song, subtle head nods had become smiles, conversations between collaborators had turned into shared reactions, and the atmosphere shifted.
Then came “FEEL SOMETHING.” Within moments, journalists, creatives and members of Tyla’s own team were dancing together. The energy became so infectious that Kevin Boakye, who was controlling playback, was asked to rewind the track and play it again.
Nobody could reach for a phone. Nobody could interrupt the moment.
Even fellow album collaborators Liquideep, whose influence quietly echoes elsewhere on the project — including Tyla’s reimagining of one of the duo’s classics — shared the experience simply as listeners.
In an industry increasingly consumed by instant reactions and first-look content, the session reminded everyone why albums still deserve uninterrupted attention.
Bringing Africa to the Centre — Not the Sidelines
Throughout our conversation, Tyla repeatedly returned to one idea: Africa should never be viewed as separate from global pop culture.
“I think people forget that we also grew up influenced by the world,” she said. “We had MTV. We had Disney Channel. We watched award shows.”
For Tyla, embracing R&B, pop, amapiano and dance music simultaneously isn’t an attempt to appeal internationally. It’s simply an honest reflection of how her generation grew up. “I just wanted to do everything that I wanted to do because I can.”
That refusal to accept artistic limitations may ultimately become A*POP‘s greatest achievement. Rather than asking permission to occupy pop’s biggest stages, Tyla simply walks onto them as herself: South African accent intact, dance moves untouched, cultural identity uncompromised. It’s precisely what she wished she had seen growing up.
“I wanted to be that for everyone else that needs it.”
A defining AfroNation Moment
Just under 24 hours before our interview, Tyla transformed Afro Nation Portugal into exactly the kind of communal celebration she described.
Asked about her favourite moment from the performance, she didn’t mention the scale of the crowd or the production. Instead, she smiled while talking about the stage ramp.
“I love being ‘within’ the people,” she said. “If I could perform in the crowd, I would.” Watching her move effortlessly from the main stage toward thousands of fans, that sentiment felt entirely believable.
For all the milestones that surround Tyla (Grammy wins, Billboard records, sold-out festivals and global headlines) her greatest strength remains remarkably simple. She has found a way to make one of the world’s fastest-rising careers still feel personal.
A*POP doesn’t ask listeners to redefine African pop. It simply asks them to stop placing limits on what it can become.
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