afrobeats
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When South African singer-songwriter Tyla turned 22 years old in late January, she was on top of the world — literally.
Her label, Epic Records, invited a few hundred music executives, artists and fans to Harriet’s Rooftop in West Hollywood, Calif., for her birthday bash. The party was a dual celebration: Tyla had also recently scored her first Grammy Award nomination, for best African music performance — one of three new categories the Recording Academy introduced this year — with her 2023 breakthrough hit, “Water.”
Waiters surprised Tyla — who had transformed a corner of the rooftop bar into her own private VIP section, complete with glam shots of herself decorating the walls — with a glittery sheet cake. Epic chairwoman/CEO Sylvia Rhone and president Ezekiel Lewis presented her with three plaques commemorating the success of “Water”: gold and platinum certifications in over 18 countries (including the United States and South Africa); surpassing 1 billion views on TikTok; and reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs, Rhythmic Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts.
Then, five nights later, Tyla got the best belated birthday present of all: her first Grammy, the inaugural win in its category, which Jimmy Jam presented to her during the awards show’s premiere ceremony. “I was in such shock,” Tyla recalls on an early March afternoon. “It’s something that a lot of people strive toward and want to win at least once in their lifetime. And I’m so blessed to have received one so early in my career.”
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But for an artist reflecting on such a joyous moment, Tyla sounds a bit blue speaking to me about her Grammy win today — and understandably so. Just six hours before our chat, she had posted a letter on Instagram announcing the kind of news no young artist wants to reveal: Due to “an injury that’s tragically worsened,” she would be delaying her first headlining North American and European tour and dropping out of a handful of festivals, including Coachella. “It’s difficult because I want to go. It’s the moment that I’ve been waiting for,” she tells me. “It’s not an easy decision, but it’s the right decision.”
Four days later at her Billboard cover shoot, Tyla maintains a level of poise that suggests nothing’s wrong. She gamely plays the part of the glamorous burgeoning pop star, in a fur-print puffer jacket, bra top and mismatched gold hoops that complement the edginess of her eyebrow slit.
This is, after all, a role Tyla has prepared for her whole life. Her co-manager, Colin Gayle, clearly remembers his first meeting with her: “I was like, ‘What do you want to do?’ She said, ‘I want to be Africa’s first pop star.’ ” Gayle, who is also co-founder and CEO of Africa Creative Agency, had recently moved to South Africa when Brandon Hixon — the New York-based co-founder of FAX Records who started managing Tyla in 2018 after discovering her on Instagram — reached out to see if he would meet with Tyla and consider becoming her on-the-ground support. By 2020, Gayle had joined her management team.
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Ramona Rosales
As a new generation of young African women has broken into mainstream pop music over the past few years (including Beninese Nigerian singer Ayra Starr, whom Tyla collaborated with on “Girl Next Door,” and fellow South African DJ Uncle Waffles, whom she performed with in September in New York), Tyla has emerged with a unique blend of sounds dubbed “popiano” — a hybrid of pop, R&B and Afrobeats with the shakers, rattling log drums and soulful piano melodies of amapiano. It really popped when she released “Water,” a summer anthem with a sweltering pop/R&B hook (and a subtle sensuality recalling Aaliyah’s “Rock the Boat”) that floats over bubbling log drums.
“Water” opened the floodgates to the global recognition of Tyla’s dreams. The song debuted at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October and by January had reached a No. 7 peak. Its viral TikTok dance helped catapult the track onto radio, and Travis Scott and Marshmello eagerly hopped on its remixes. “Water” hit No. 1 on U.S. Afrobeats Songs in October, ending the record 58-week reign of Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down,” and it has now spent 24 weeks (and counting) atop the chart. Tyla’s catalog has earned 283.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate — and “Water” is responsible for 236.7 million of them.
On the morning of Nov. 10, 2023, Tyla’s Epic team told her to tune in to the Grammy nominations livestream from her hotel room in New York. “I didn’t even know the label submitted some songs,” she recalls. “When I saw my name, I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ My best friend was jumping in the room with me. I still have the video, and I’m wearing this bodysuit that’s half open. It’s a hectic video, but it showcases the excitement in that moment.”
This year’s best African music performance nominees were predominantly Nigerian artists — Burna Boy (“City Boys”), Davido (“Unavailable”), Asake and Olamide (“Amapiano”) and Starr (“Rush”). Tyla and Musa Keys (who’s featured on Davido’s “Unavailable”) were the only South African acts. Considering the significant inroads Afrobeats has made in the American music market over the last decade, Tyla’s win with an amapiano song wasn’t necessarily likely.
“That category is something that was introduced in my lifetime, and I was the first person to win it. And I’m able to bring it home back to South Africa,” Tyla marvels now, adding that her father has already claimed the trophy to be displayed in his study, along with the rest of her award hardware. “The South African genre of amapiano just started bubbling, and I’m so proud that South Africa has a genre that people are enjoying and paying attention to. I’m super proud of my country and where our sound has gone.”
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Ramona Rosales
That sound is just one element of how Tyla represents her home country in her craft, sometimes in ways that the average non-South African consumer might miss. For a late-2023 performance on The Voice, she transformed the stage into a shebeen, an “unlicensed, underground space for drinking and music” where Black South Africans could gather and “speak freely in protest” during apartheid, according to Lior Phillips, author of South African Popular Music (Genre: A 33 1/3 Series). And at the very end of the repeated prechorus of “Water,” Tyla softly exhales “haibo,” a Zulu expression of shock or disbelief. “It’s similar to ‘Yo!’ where you can use it multiple ways,” she explains. “In that [song], I kind of use it in a sassy way.”
But when she performed “Water” during her debut U.S. TV performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in late October, Tyla replaced it with another South African expression: “Asambe!”
“ ‘Asambe’ in South Africa means ‘Let’s go!’ And she screamed it on the mic. That was pivotal,” recalls her choreographer, Lee-ché Janecke. “It felt awkward at first when we were rehearsing it because we were like, ‘Are we really going to do this on national television in America? Um, yeah, we are!’ As much as it’s one word, it meant the most to South Africa.”
Growing up in the “very lively” city of Johannesburg, Tyla Laura Seethal was always the center of attention. “Even before I could remember, my mother would tell me stories about how when I was small, I would always want to sing for people,” Tyla recalls. “I would pose for people just so they [could] take pictures of me. And I danced for everyone.”
Her parents exposed her to American R&B icons like Stevie Wonder, Brian McKnight, Aaliyah and Whitney Houston; South African pop and house acts like Freshlyground, Mi Casa and Liquideep; and Nigerian Afrobeats superstars like Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido. When Tyla was 11, she started uploading videos of herself singing covers to YouTube and Instagram, from Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes” to Boyz II Men’s version of “Let It Snow,” and DM’ing them to superstars like Drake and DJ Khaled.
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Ramona Rosales
While her countless reachouts went unanswered, her Instagram covers caught the attention of Garth von Glehn, a Zimbabwean director and photographer based between Cape Town and New York. When he first emailed her, Tyla worried it was a scam — but after a few weeks, she agreed to meet von Glehn with her parents.
Ultimately, Tyla spent every weekend of her final year of high school at his studio loft, writing and recording music, shooting music videos and conducting photo shoots with her best friend Thato Nzimande. Von Glehn’s loft was “a creative artist hub,” says Janecke, who worked on music video sets with von Glehn and was tapped by him to help train some of the in-house artists during their early development period. One of those artists was Tyla.
“She just had this thing in her eyes that she wants this!” Janecke exclaims. “And wanting it makes me feel like, ‘OK, I’m going to push more with this person.’ If you’re hungry, and that hunger never stops, that’s my girl. And she has been that girl since that point.”
Tyla’s parents, however, remained skeptical that the path of an artist was the right one for her — so, to appease them, she applied to university to study mining engineering, a field she picked only because “it was the job that was going to give me the most money.” But after “a lot of convincing and a lot of crying,” her parents allowed her a trial gap year after she graduated from high school in 2019 so she could prove that a full-time music career would pan out.
Working with Kooldrink, a producer living in von Glehn’s house, Tyla started “to experiment and find out the sound that I wanted to have.” At the time, amapiano was taking over South African dancefloors and radio stations alike. Meaning “the pianos” in Zulu, amapiano originated in the South African townships in the mid-2010s as a hybrid of deep house, jazz and kwaito music and was popularized by Kabza De Small and DJ Maphorisa, among others.
Ramona Rosales
After first hearing amapiano in high school, when a classmate played her Kwiish SA’s “Iskhathi (Gong Gong),” Tyla wanted to put her own spin on the genre. “Amapiano songs were like eight minutes, 10 minutes at that time,” Tyla told Billboard in October, when she was honored as R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month. “And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a bit too long! Let me make an amapiano song that has the normal format of a pop song or an R&B song.” She experimented with that formula on her scintillating debut single, “Getting Late,” featuring Kooldrink. But after shooting one scene for the video at the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic broke out and production shut down. With just one year to prove herself to her parents, Tyla feared she had run out of time.
“Even if it only gets 270 views on YouTube and my career fails, I’ll just watch this video on repeat for the rest of my life and I’m pretty sure I’ll be happy,” Tyla posted on Instagram days before the “Getting Late” video eventually premiered in January 2021. The outcome quashed all of her previous concerns: The clip, which has since garnered more than 9 million YouTube views, earned a music video of the year nomination at the 2022 South African Music Awards, and FAX Records’ Hixon sent it to Epic’s Rhone and Lewis.
“This could be the vehicle to take Africa to the world in a way that it has never been exported before,” Lewis recalls thinking. The “Getting Late” video started a label bidding war, but thanks to Hixon’s established business relationship with Lewis and Rhone — and with a little help from multiple “Love, Sylvia Rhone from Epic” billboards with Tyla’s face on them placed around Johannesburg — Tyla chose Epic.
“It was a very competitive signing. We wanted something authentic, sincere and personal — especially since we’re 10,000-plus miles away,” Rhone says of her tactic. “That’s what sealed the deal.”
Tyla can still picture the first time she left South Africa, in 2021. “I remember looking outside of the plane and crying,” she says, “and being like, ‘What the heck is this?!’”
She was en route to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where Epic had assembled various American, European and African songwriters and producers, including three-time Grammy winner (and former Epic president of A&R) Tricky Stewart, and put them in a writing camp just for her. “At the time, we couldn’t get the resources and the people [to South Africa] to make it happen,” Lewis explains. “So I figured out randomly by looking at the map that Dubai would be a place that would host us all. That’s a very expensive proposition, a very ambitious sort of undertaking, but she was worth it.”
Ramona Rosales
For the next two-and-a-half years, Epic’s development of Tyla became a truly global endeavor, taking her and a rotating group of hit-makers to Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Jamaica, the United Kingdom, the United States and beyond to write and record her self-titled debut album. The sessions helped Tyla gain more formal studio recording experience, while also establishing her “Fantastic Four” team of creative collaborators: Ari PenSmith, Mocha Bands, Believve and Sammy SoSo, who all contributed to “Water,” the “summer banger” that Tyla felt had been missing from her album. In keeping with the project’s international genesis, the song was “produced in London, then finished in LA, written and vocal demo done in ATL then recorded in Cape Town,” as SoSo wrote on Instagram.
“I was actually driving in Portland [Ore.] with my family and I started listening to [“Water”] on my phone. I literally stopped the car and pulled over,” Hixon recalls of his initial reaction. “My wife and my kids were like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘Yo, this sh-t is crazy!’ ”
Tyla and her team instantly knew “Water” was going to be big, and she wanted to find a way to make it even bigger. One night at around 10:30 p.m., a few days before the song dropped, Tyla called Janecke and Nzimande to brainstorm choreography ideas. She had always loved the Pretoria-based Bacardi style of dancing — which synchronizes booty shaking and intricate footwork with a song’s fast-paced rhythm — and had incorporated it into a different song from her live sets that always generated a crazy crowd reaction. Tyla asked Janecke if he could create a Bacardi-inspired dance for “Water,” and within an hour, he drafted a TikTok video of his original routine and sent it to her. “She goes, ‘Post! Post this right now!’ ” he recalls excitedly. “She was going crazy over this pocket of hands up, hands down, throw it to the side, boom. Booty on log drum! Throw it to the other side. Booty on log drum!”
When she performed the dance for the first time at the self-proclaimed world’s biggest Afrobeats festival, Afro Nation Portugal, in July, Janecke had Tyla’s backup dancers pour water bottles on her. A month later, while rehearsing for her Giants of Africa festival set in Rwanda, she suggested simply pouring the water bottle on herself — a choreography tweak that proved to be social media gold. One festival attendee posted a video of the revised “Water” routine on her Instagram Story and Tyla asked for the footage, reposting to her own account shortly before jetting back to South Africa. When she landed almost four hours later, the video had amassed more than 5 million views. (It now has over 21 million.)
Tyla’s natural dance ability — and her instincts for the kind of performance that would most resonate on the internet — continued to draw in fans as she began performing on TV, appearances that, co-manager Gayle says, “cemented her as an artist.” But keeping her audience engaged and growing required more than one hit single. The Tyla EP arrived in early December, with “Water,” its Scott remix and three new songs — intended, Lewis explains, to give fans “a taste of other layers of the artist so that it becomes bigger than a track proposition and turns into an artist proposition.”
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The mini project also introduced a playful new focus track, “Truth or Dare,” which came with its own viral TikTok choreography. “Truth or Dare” and another EP track, the 1990s R&B-inspired “On and On,” became two more top 10 hits on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart for Tyla, peaking at Nos. 3 and 10, respectively, and “Truth or Dare” has been steadily climbing at radio, reaching No. 22 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and No. 24 on Rhythmic Airplay.
The momentum of her other songs perfectly set the stage for the March 22 release of Tyla’s self-titled debut. It’s bittersweet that she can’t promote it live — yet — in the way she has proved to be so skilled, and for the moment, neither Tyla nor her label will reveal anything more about her injury. So for now, the music will have to speak for itself.
Over 14 tracks, Tyla polishes her popiano sound, finding the sweet spot between African and American music with R&B melodies, amapiano production and exquisite pop writing. “We traveled the world to make this record, and that’s why the world is reflected in this record,” Lewis says. Mexican American star Becky G joins her for the smooth, Afrobeats-meets-Latin dancefloor number “On My Body”; rapper Gunna and Jamaican dancehall artist Skillibeng help coax out her more braggadocious side on “Jump”; and Tyla brings other stars from her home continent along for the ride, blending beautifully with Nigerian singer-songwriter-producer Tems on “No. 1” and cooing over South African DJ-producer Kelvin Momo’s slow-burning amapiano production on “Intro.” “I had this voice note on my phone of the song playing and people talking in the back. I remember loving the slang that we were using and just the sound of a South African studio session,” Tyla says. “I knew I wanted that for my intro.”
And while her fans will have to wait to see her live (in her Instagram note, Tyla said she hoped to be “ready to return safely onstage this summer”), they can still see the kind of performer Tyla is in her Gap Spring 2024 Linen Moves campaign, which reimagines Jungle’s viral “Back on 74” music video. She wants to keep branching out into fashion, too, or perhaps dabble in makeup and acting. “People are going to see me everywhere,” she promises. “So if you don’t like me, I’m sorry.”
Tyla dreamed for years of becoming Africa’s first pop star — and she isn’t about to let one setback stop her. “I’m really confident in what I’ve created. Now’s a time where I can showcase a performance style where I’m not really dancing as much. Maybe I strip back a little bit more and I’m just serving vocals,” she muses. “But there’s no way to stop me. I’m always going to find a way.”
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
In just a few years, Tems went from working a digital marketing job to becoming a globally known hit-maker who rubs shoulders with stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake — all without losing her cool or confidence. “When I make music, I don’t really think about where it’s going to end up,” she explains nonchalantly. “I just leave it all in the studio.”
To a certain extent, she doesn’t even have time to think about where her songs will end up — since once she releases them, they tend to immediately spread everywhere. Ever since she was featured on Wizkid’s 2020 smash, “Essence,” which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 a year later (with the help of a Justin Bieber remix) and earned a Grammy nod for best global music performance, the 28-year-old Nigerian artist’s rich, velvety voice has traveled far beyond the African continent and become a mesmerizing fixture in popular music. Drake put up billboards in Tems’ hometown of Lagos to announce she would be featured on his 2021 album, Certified Lover Boy; a year later, they appeared together again on Future’s Hot 100 No. 1 “Wait for U,” which samples “Higher” from Tems’ 2020 debut EP, For Broken Ears. She was one of only three featured artists on Beyoncé’s 2022 Renaissance album. And she earned Golden Globe, Academy Award and Grammy nominations for co-writing Rihanna’s 2022 comeback single, “Lift Me Up,” from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
But she hasn’t needed others’ star power to shine, establishing herself as a solo hit-maker as well. With “Essence” leading a major crossover movement for Afrobeats in the United States, Tems emerged as one of the first big African acts here of the last few years. For Broken Ears produced another sleeper hit with “Free Mind,” which set a record for most weeks (17) at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for a song by a female lead artist the following May. (SZA’s “Snooze” later surpassed it.) And even though Tems only released two singles last year — “Me & U” in October and “Not an Angel” in December — she was responsible for or featured on eight of the top 40 Afrobeats songs in the United States in 2023, according to Luminate.
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It’s a remarkable career trajectory for someone who has yet to release her debut album — which Tems assures “is 1,000% coming out this year,” though she matter-of-factly adds that she’s “not thinking too much about outcomes.”
Such self-assuredness comes naturally to the artist born Témìládè Openiyi, whose Nigerian mother broke with Yoruba tradition by choosing her daughter’s name — a role typically reserved for the father’s side of the family — because “God told me,” Tems’ mother explained on For Broken Ears’ “Témìládè Interlude.” Growing up, “everybody just called me Temi. Nobody really called me by my full name. It wasn’t something that was on my mind,” Tems says. “It’s only now, as an adult, that I started realizing that it meant ‘The crown is mine.’ I think that’s really powerful. It feels manifested, based on how my life has gone.”
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Zoe McConnell
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Zoe McConnell
And it’s fitting for Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Breakthrough honoree, who is smashing boundaries for African artists and crossing over to the U.S. market without compromising her own sound. When Tems started making music in her early 20s, the producers she met with often told her that if she wanted to be popular in Nigeria, she should make Afrobeats music. But for someone who grew up enamored by the sentimental melodies of Céline Dion, Destiny’s Child and Mariah Carey, Tems yearned to make soul-stirring songs that sent people deep into their feelings rather than joyful dance records that anyone could catch a vibe to. “Is it possible to make this type of music even though I’m Nigerian? Is there a limit to what I can make?” Tems recalls asking herself. “I wanted to find out.”
In 2018, she quit her job and independently wrote, produced, recorded and released her debut single, “Mr. Rebel,” which showcased her arresting vocals over a buoyant, introspective beat (and established her fan base as the “Rebel Gang”). “It wasn’t an overnight thing,” Tems says of transitioning to making music full time. But as she struggled to establish herself, she had the freeing realization that “I was selling myself short by not pursuing my passion and worrying about what people think.”
That extended to the ways others tried to categorize her music. “Afrobeats” has become a catch-all term for popular music emerging from West Africa, but Tems says her music, which encompasses neo-soul, R&B, reggae, hip-hop and Afrobeats, “doesn’t perfectly fit into one genre.” And she has been touted as a leader in the subcultural alté movement, which emerged in the mid-2010s among young Nigerian creatives who found nontraditional ways of expressing themselves through music and fashion.
“I believe not every Nigerian needs to do the generic sound because we’re talented in general, and whatever we decide to do, we’ll just do it really well,” says Tems’ co-manager Muyiwa Awoniyi, who first met the musician in 2019 during a studio session she attended. When one of the producers present complained that Tems kept rejecting the music they were playing and she stood her ground, her fortitude impressed Awoniyi, who started managing her four months later.
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Ever since, Awoniyi and co-manager Wale Davies have prioritized helping Tems make “amazing music that attracts the maximum amount of people possible,” says Awoniyi, who views her career milestones as her music’s “ripple effect,” but says such accomplishments don’t drive her or her team. (They do, he admits, “keep [Tems’] name in the conversation,” especially when she’s not actively releasing music.)
While Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade led the charge for African female artists in the 2010s, in this decade, Tems has paved the way for a new generation that also includes Ayra Starr and Tyla, the latter of whom recently scored a Hot 100 top 10 with her pop-infused amapiano smash, “Water.” Tems and Tyla are among a handful of African acts performing at Coachella this spring — further proof that African music, in its many styles, continues to take over the world’s biggest stages.
“I’m not sure if I would ever really be aware of whatever impact my story has, but it feels inspiring to know that I’ve inspired others because I’m inspired by other people as well,” Tems says. “It just encourages me to keep going.”
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Zoe McConnell
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Zoe McConnell
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Scores of new artists snag hits in a given year, but few truly break through and create a lasting impact on the global music scene and popular culture. Tems is one of those artists. The Nigerian singer-songwriter has used her lush amalgamation of Afrobeats, soul and hip-hop to become one of the leading female artists in the global Afrobeats boom of the early 2020s.
As the 2024 Billboard Women in Music Breakthrough Artist honoree, Tems joins an exclusive list of movers and shakers that includes Idina Menzel, Maren Morris, Camila Cabello, TWICE and Tori Kelly. To illustrate why the Grammy winner is a true breakthrough artist, Billboard Explains has put together a brief overview of Tems’ impressive chart success.
Tems made her Billboard Hot 100 debut back in 2021 with “Essence,” a collaboration with fellow Afrobeats star Wizkid and Justin Bieber that reached No. 9 on the ranking. The following year, she translated that momentum into her first Hot 100 No. 1 single — “Wait for U” (with Future and Drake), which spent one week atop the chart. Her other Hot 100 hits include “Fountains” (No. 26, with Drake), “Move” (No. 55, with Beyoncé and Grace Jones) and “Free Mind” (No. 46), a single from her debut EP For Broken Ears, which reached No. 28 on Independent Albums.
“Free Mind” and “Essence” are also Tems’ two chart-toppers on Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs, where she boasts 15 career entries. “Higher,” which was sampled on Future’s “Wait for U,” reached No. 5 on the chart in 2022.
With a debut studio album set for release in 2024, Tems is poised to own the coming year and further solidify her breakthrough.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
The year is starting to heat up, and with an extra day in February, this month’s Afrobeats Fresh Picks makes it to you just under the wire. This month, there is new heat from bright young hitmakers like Ayra Starr, Black Sherif and Boy Spyce and Khaid, plus new bangers from more established stars like Young Jonn, Joeboy and Adekunle Gold, and some fresh tracks from artists like Rowlene, YKB, Logos Olori and Crayon. And there’s already more great music on the horizon, meaning that this year is still just getting started.
We’ve highlighted 10 of our favorite new Afrobeats (and related) songs that have come out roughly within the last month. Check out our latest Fresh Picks, and catch a vibe with our latest Spotify playlist below.
Black Sherif feat. Mabel, “Zero”
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While discerning all of the good (fame) and bad (gossip) that comes with being in the public eye, Ghanaian rapper Black Sherif calls for “Zero” drama in his new single with English R&B/pop singer-songwriter Mabel. The tender melodies evoke the peace Black Sherif is seeking, while Mabel preoccupies herself with “the piano in the hotel lobby” and lights up a “zoot” (British slang for a joint) and Palo Santo to create a carefree environment that cuts through all the other noise. The only voices that matter are theirs.
Logos Olori feat. Davido, “Easy On Me”
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After collaborating with Davido Music Worldwide label boss Davido on “Picasso” from the Grammy-nominated album Timeless, Logos Olori taps him for the easygoing “Easy On Me,” from his new OLORI EP. Olori’s sensual melodies and tropical-inspired production makes it the perfect baecation song, as both artists marvel at women who have them wrapped around their fingers.
Young Jonn feat. Kizz Daniel & Seyi Vibez, “Big Big Things”
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This trio of Nigerian singer-songwriters is only meant for “Big Big Things,” as evidenced by Young Jonn’s latest single that will be featured on his upcoming debut album Jiggy Forever. Powered by an amapiano-infused bassline, rap air horns and a tropical melody, this banger is all about being unstoppable. “When I walk through the valley of the shadow / All eyes on me cause I came in a Lambo,” Young Jonn flexes. In a press release, he describes “Big Big Things” as “a rallying cry for dreamers, go-getters and anyone with an unrelenting desire to achieve greatness.”
Ayra Starr, “Commas”
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The Beninese-Nigerian star simultaneously addresses those who’ve presented roadblocks in her path, and inspires others to never stop chasing their dreams, on her new Afropop single “Commas.” Over a swelling string arrangement and bubbling percussion, she delivers a personal message of resilience for those who need it most – including herself. During her recent Billboard News interview, she revealed that “Commas” will be included in her upcoming album. “The Ayra Starr I want to introduce is excellent, sonically amazing. This album is unique, because I’ve been evolving sonically,” she said.
Adekunle Gold, “The Life I Chose”
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The Nigerian star reflects on “The Life I Chose” in his new single. Produced by Kel-P, the track employs a spellbinding, psychedelic flavor of Afropop that draws listeners in just the way the rockstar lifestyle drew in Gold. He revels in its opulence – “Pool side, sippin’ Don Peri/ All the fine girls won fed gum-body” – while being wary of undercover opps when he realizes, “All of a sudden, everybody act like they love me (Fake love).”
Joeboy, “Osadebe”
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The first single under his new imprint for Warner Music Africa, Young Legend, finds Joeboy paying tribute to highlife icon Chief Osita Osadebe and his 1984 classic “Osondi Owendi,” and dealing with the emotions of balancing such a successful career with remaining humble. “Sometimes I feel like I’m supernatural / But I’m only human / I’m only human,” he sings. A good start to a new chapter for Joeboy.
YKB, “High & Sober”
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A gorgeous ballad, “High & Sober” finds YKB crooning a love letter to his girl over lush production from Pheelz, who supports the vocals with a full backing orchestral section underneath the hook, fleshing out the song and giving YKB the platform to showcase his vocals. After great singles “komplete riddim” and “This Must Be Love” with King Promise last year, YKB is on an upward trajectory.
Crayon, “FADE AWAY”
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An understated beat underscores this unconventional single from Crayon, whose syncopated rhythms and flexible melodies bring an unorthodox style to the track. With occasionally double-tracked vocals and production that relies mostly on its drum pattern but incorporates piano, organ, guitar and saxophone in different sections, the song stands out from a lot of the other songs coming out right now.
Rowlene, “don’t let go”
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For fans of the South African singer, it’s been a long wait after 2020’s excellent 11:11 album, but finally Rowlene has returned with a beautiful three-pack of songs called Moment In Between, with “don’t let go” a particular standout among them. A poignant plea, the song features her ever-engaging vocals, reminding that there’s a lot more to come from one of the leading lights of South African R&B.
Boy Spyce & Khaid, “I Don’t Care”
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Boy Spyce and Khaid made a big impact last year with the carefree, upbeat “Carry Me Go,” which combined an irresistible melody with an earworm of a hook to deliver a song that truly felt like the summertime. “I Don’t Care,” their most recent collaboration, is a different beast entirely, opening with a menacing beat that then gets its edge taken off, instead providing a propulsive platform for their intertwining vocals, a stylistic switch up that nonetheless still works well, with a fun video to accompany it.
The Universal Music Group purchased a majority stake in Nigerian record company Mavin Global, the iconic label founded by Don Jazzy that is home to Rema, Ayra Starr, Crayon and Ladipoe, among others. The deal is expected to be completed by the third quarter, pending regulatory approval, the companies announced.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, Billboard reported in October that Mavin was being shopped by Shot Tower Capital at a valuation north of $125 million, with a sale price in the region of $150 million to $200 million; it was unclear if publishing was involved in the deal. As part of the investment arrangement, Don Jazzy — who founded Mavin in 2012, and also serves as CEO — and COO Tega Oghenejobo will continue to run the label.
“Our criteria for identifying partners is straightforward: great artists, great entrepreneurs, great people,” UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge said in a statement announcing the deal. “With Don Jazzy, Tega, the Mavin Global team and their artist roster, we’ve found ideal partners with whom to grow together. Mavin’s brilliant artists have been catalysts in the transformation of Afrobeats into a global phenomenon and we’re thrilled to welcome them into the Universal Music Group family.”
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Mavin had already established a relationship with UMG, with Rema’s “Calm Down” — the biggest Afrobeats song of all time, which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 last year — initially distributed by Virgin Music, with its remix featuring Selena Gomez licensed to Interscope; Starr, meanwhile, has a deal in place with Republic. “Calm Down” has racked up more than 1 billion on-demand streams in the U.S. alone since its release, with its global count many multiples higher.
The investment is designed to spur Mavin’s growth around the world, according to a press release, with focuses on both Mavin’s Artist Academy, which nurtures its roster in various musical and performance skills, and its executive leadership team, which is aimed at growing the next generation of African leaders in the music business.
“With our proven history of collaborations within the UMG family, we have a strong belief that they are the ideal partner for the next phase of our growth, given the diversity and potential of our business,” Oghenejobo said in a statement. “UMG is home to some of the world’s foremost music entrepreneurs and artists, making them a perfect match for our aspirations. By collaborating with UMG, we are dedicated to cultivating a vibrant creative environment that propels African music to new heights on the global stage.”
Winning the Mavin auction catapults UMG deeper into the Nigerian Afrobeats scene — the umbrella genre that encompasses Afropop, Afro fusion, high life and others that continues to explode around the globe. In the past several years, artists such as Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy have blossomed into global superstars, while the likes of Rema, Starr, Tems, Tyla, Ckay, Asake and Fireboy DML have led a wave of young, emerging talent coming from the African continent. The movement has gained momentum to the point that the Recording Academy introduced a new Grammy Awards category for best African music performance, which was awarded to Tyla’s “Water” at the honors earlier this month.
Additional reporting by Ed Christman.
Ayra Starr is fresh off her first Grammy nomination, with plenty of new music in store for 2024, and she sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss her breakthrough career. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “It’s been a long time coming,” she says of the […]
Burna Boy made Afrobeats take center stage at the 2024 Grammys Awards Sunday night (Feb. 4) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Earlier in the broadcast, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. introduced the “superstar from Nigeria,” who started his performance with “On Form,” then stomped his way into “City Boys” with his boys. He […]
While 2023 represented a year of remarkable growth for African music, 2024 is already shaping up to be a year where multiple new stars are discovered. Singer-songwriter-producer Yung D3mz was selected as Apple Music’s Up Next artist in Ghana at the end of last year, and new fans can discover his recent EP Before the Sun Comes Down. And after scoring high-profile features on Davido and Olamide‘s albums, Nigerian singer-songwriter Fave is making a name for herself, especially with her new single “Belong to You.”
And 2024 will also be the year that the superstars will receive higher honors than ever before. On Sunday (Feb. 4), the Recording Academy will give out the Grammy award for best African music performance for the first time. Nominees in the category include Mr. Money Asake, who doesn’t stop getting after the money in his new single “Only Me,” and Davido, who reunited with Kizz Daniel for the first time since their 2018 collaboration “One Ticket” on the remix of “Twe Twe.”
We’ve highlighted 10 of our favorite new Afrobeats (and related) songs that have come out roughly within the last month. Get into our first Fresh Picks of 2024, and start off the new year with some new tunes in our Spotify playlist below.
Chssom & Crayon, “Chemistry Luv”
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Chssom and Crayon capture the intense pull of “Chemistry Luv” with high-pitched piano chords that could be transposed for the woman of their dreams to walk down the aisle to. “Girl, I’ve never felt like this before!” Chssom exclaims in the hook, demonstrating the potency of the spell he’s under.
Yung D3mz & Tera Kòrá, “Futuristic”
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Yung D3mz recruits Curaçaoan producer Tera Kòrá for the sun-soaked penultimate track of his latest EP, Before the Sun Comes Down. Kòrá’s “soulswing” sound – which he describes as “a warm and moving, loungey vibe” that’s inspired by his “sunny Caribbean roots” – breathes new life into D3mz’s Afro-fusion. From the dizzying flute melodies to the bubbling bassline, it’s impossible not to sway your hips to this song.
KJ Spio, Oxlade & Sarkodie, “Undress You”
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Ghanaian music executive and self-proclaimed “culturepreneur” KJ Spio taps Oxlade and Sarkodie for this slinky, sensual track. With a swoon-worthy melody inspired by T-Pain’s 2005 smash “I’m Sprung,” “Undress You” paints a lascivious picture of how they plan on letting the night unfold, with Oxlade crooning “Time to have sex” in the chorus (a la Mad Cobra’s 1992 dancehall hit “Flex”) and Sarkodie rapping, “More sex less talk we waking up to the sunset.”
Highlyy, “Honest”
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The Essex-born Congolese breakout sensation bares her soul on the “Honest” cut from her debut EP +243. The twinkling keys and pensive pitter-patter of the percussion give listeners a glimpse of the war between Highlyy’s head and heart, as she remains firm in her decision to end things with a lover – even if it’s one of the toughest decisions she’s had to make. “I was talking to a boy, a very toxic situationship. There’s always that person that you say you’re done with but keep running back to them. That song means everything to me because it’s so true,” she told Clash.
PsychoYP & Jeriq, “Disintegrate”
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No one and nothing can break down indomitable Nigerian rappers PsychoYP and Jeriq on “Disintegrate,” the first track off their joint EP Evil Twin. The two effortlessly feed off of each other’s flows, flexing with lines like “Afum your 12 missed calls during a business meeting, I’m sorry but I won’t call you back unless Inwe ezigbo reason,” because the hustle doesn’t stop for anyone.
Fave, “Belong To You”
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The young Nigerian singer broke out in a big way in the past few years, with high-profile features on tracks by Davido and Olamide and her own single “Baby Riddim,” but this new cut is something different from her — a straight-up R&B-pop cut that showcases her powerful vocals and the emotion in her voice as she relates a relationship seemingly broken, but with deep wells of feeling under the surface. She’s poised for a breakout look.
Asake, “Only Me”
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Sometimes it seems like the breakout star of the past two years can do no wrong, and Asake keeps up the relentless pace of his output here with another catchy, melodic hit for the catalog. He has a way of crafting these earworms out of small phrases that give his songs a lasting quality, and his inclination to always incorporate choral backing vocals gives his songs a cinematic feel that others just can’t match.
Black Sherif, “January 9th”
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Celebrating his 22nd birthday, the Ghanaian takes time to reflect on his position and the weight of the pressure on him, while seeming to take a very zen point of view on the matter. The production is deeply soulful and his lyrics rise to the occasion, making this single a mission statement of sorts — with everything he’s got going on, everything is still alright. It’s a good sign for his forthcoming album.
Kizz Daniel & Davido,” Twe Twe”
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The remix to Kizz’s latest single features one of Africa’s biggest stars, and has fun playing with and overlaying different rhythms and syncopation, which helps it stand out from many of its contemporary songs on the scene right now. The lush production propels it forward and the duo — together on a track for the first time in several years — brings it home.
Ckay, “Is It You?”
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Afrobeats’ resident emotional loverboy returns with another entry in the genre, with a wistful hook and verses that see him pining over a woman he’s just met. His melodies and vocals have continually set him apart, and while we wait to see what else he’s got in store, he keeps hitting his sweet spot with songs that recall some of his biggest hits, though with a bouncier beat behind him here.
Davido and Lojay both make their first appearances on the Billboard Hot 100, thanks to their featured credits on Chris Brown’s “Sensational.”
Released Oct. 20 via CBE/RCA Records, the song debuts at No. 96 on the Hot 100 (dated Feb. 3) with 15.7 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 14%) and 2.6 million official U.S. streams (up 3%) in the Jan. 19-25 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The song is the second single from Brown’s 11th studio album 11:11, released in November. The set debuted and peaked at No. 1 on Top R&B Albums and No. 9 on the Billboard 200.
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“Sensational” has been building at multiple radio formats: It rises 11-9 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, 16-10 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and 16-14 on Rhythmic Airplay and debuts at No. 30 on Adult R&B Airplay. On the all-format Radio Songs chart, it pushes 49-44.
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Davido, from Osun State, Nigeria, has become one of the most prominent Afrobeats musicians of the past decade. He has released four studio LPs in his career: Omo Baba Olowo in 2012, A Good Time (2019), A Better Time (2020) and Timeless (March 2023). His two most recent albums reached Nos. 170 and 37 on the Billboard 200, respectively, marking his first appearances on the chart.
Davido has also posted 25 songs on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart. That’s the fourth most among all artists, dating to the list’s 2022 launch, after only Burna Boy (44), Asake (34) and Wizkid (27). Of those 25 hits, three hit the top 10: “Stand Strong,” featuring Sunday Service Choir (No. 9 in 2022); “Unavailable,” featuring Musa Keys (No. 3, 2023); and “Over Dem” (No. 10, 2023).
On Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart, Davido has charted 27 songs – 18 of which reached the top 10 – all since 2016. That’s the second most among Afrobeats artists, after Wizkid (29).
“Sensational” isn’t the first collaboration between Davido and Brown. The pair additionally teamed up for “Blow My Mind” and “Lower Body,” both in 2019, “Shopping Spree,” also with Young Thug, in 2021 and “Nobody Has to Know” in 2022. Davido has also recorded with Nicki Minaj, Pop Smoke, Popcaan, Quavo, Rae Sremmurd and Summer Walker, among others.
This April, he’s slated to perform at Madison Square Garden on his extended Timeless Tour. He’s also nominated for three Grammy Awards at the upcoming ceremony: best global music performance (for “Feel”), best African music performance (for “Unavailable”) and best global music album (for Timeless).
As for Lojay, the fellow Nigerian artist tallied his first Billboard chart appearance in 2022 with another Chris Brown collab: “Monalisa,” also with Sarz. The track reached No. 8 on and No. 38 on Rhythmic Airplay.
Lojay has charted two other Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs hits: “Arizona” and “Moto” reached Nos. 44 and 48, respectively, in 2023. Plus, as featured on French Montana and Swae Lee’s “Wish U Well,” also with Jess Glynne, he rose to No. 37 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in October.
Lojay has released three EPs: Midnight Vibes in 2017, LV N ATTN with Sarz in 2021, and Gangster Romantic in March 2023.
Few stories have captivated the past couple of months like that of Tyla, the young South African singer whose single, “Water,” emerged as a sultry blend of Afrobeats and R&B and exploded across the globe. The song first debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in October — her first appearance on the chart — and quickly took off from there. It almost immediately reached the top of the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart — where it has spent 14 weeks at No. 1 — and climbed all the way to No. 7 on the Hot 100, where it has spent the past two weeks. It has also been sitting comfortably at No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay for eight weeks.
It’s a true breakout story for the artist, who also saw “Water” land a Grammy nomination in the brand-new category of best African music performance at the upcoming awards this February — not to mention a testament to the work of her management and her team at Epic Records, where she signed in 2021. The song began picking up organically, got a lift off a TikTok challenge and catapulted onto radio, picking up remixes from Travis Scott and Marshmello along the way. And the song’s success so far earns Epic Records president Ezekiel Lewis the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Lewis breaks down how “Water” erupted onto the global stage, the multiple genre influences that went into its final version and how the singer can build on the song’s success leading into her debut album, which is due out in the next few months. “From the beginning of the record-making process, we made it a point to find the best chemistry between creatives from different backgrounds to reflect the worldly influences you hear in the song,” Lewis says. “That is a key factor in enabling it to appeal to audiences not only in the U.S. but across the globe.”
This week, Tyla’s “Water” spent its second week at No. 7 on the Hot 100, its 14th week at No. 1 on U.S. Afrobeats Songs and was certified platinum by the RIAA. What key decision(s) did you make to help make that happen?
The story starts with the creation of the song. I feel like a big part of our job is to curate an environment that creates an opportunity for magic to happen. Consider the fact that the four key writers of the song had never worked together as a collective before Tyla. From the beginning of the record-making process, we made it a point to find the best chemistry between creatives from different backgrounds to reflect the worldly influences you hear in the song. That is a key factor in enabling it to appeal to audiences, not only in the U.S. but across the globe.
“Water” blends an Afrobeats/Amapiano drum pattern with more traditional R&B elements, combining a number of different styles. Why do you think it was able to break through in such a big way?
The song not only has elements of Afrobeats but also more specifically Amapiano which is integral to the music culture of South Africa. While the wider Afrobeats influence is obvious, the use of the log drum by Sammy Soso is key to tying in that specific South African element. Then moving on to the top line, the lyric and melody, R&B and pop dominate in terms of influence there. We really hit a sweet spot in terms of multiple influences coming together seamlessly. There’s something for everyone.
The song has also done very well at radio, with eight straight weeks at No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. What was the strategy there and how has it paid off?
Once we accomplished a strong Shazam, digital and streaming story, the stage was set for radio to follow through. The audience talked back loudly and let us know it wanted to hear more and more of the record. The song’s gains at playlists across multiple genres gave us a strong sense that radio would be able to replicate that success, and that we could have a chart topper across multiple formats. Once all of the indicators pointed upward, we went for it, and thankfully we were correct in doing so.
The song was also boosted relatively early on with remixes from Travis Scott and Marshmello. How have remixes fit into your strategy, and what has been the payoff?
When thinking about remixing the song, we did not want to significantly compromise the implicit nature of the track by doing something simply to gain more audience. Authenticity is sometimes hard to articulate, but you know it once you press play and begin to listen. Travis came to the table organically, as a fan of the song, and wanted to join. We knew immediately that it would make sense creatively and would only add to the prominence of the track. Travis is a preeminent curator himself, so the vote of confidence was welcomed. His involvement gave listeners a different take on a song that they had already embraced.
Similarly, and maybe less obvious, was Marshmello, who also was a fan of the song and asked if he could do a remix. Once we heard how he re-imagined the track, we were excited to have him join us. His version has definitely given the track wings in the dance space and helped to take it further with additional streaming in that world. All of this cross-pollination has helped the track ascend the Billboard Hot 100.
So far, music from African artists has mostly broken through singles in the U.S. How do you plan to keep Tyla’s momentum going through to releasing a full album?
We will continue to build on Tyla’s momentum by keeping African culture at the center of what we do musically and creatively overall. There is a sonic consistency that listeners will hear across this first project and we expect this to go over well with the new fan base that she has developed. There is already a nearly completely sold-out tour scheduled in both Europe and the U.S. Also, her new track, “Truth Or Dare,” is showing early signs of greatness as we build daily and sits in the top five of both the U.S. and U.K. Afrobeats charts.
The song also earned a Grammy nomination in the first-ever best African music performance category. What do you see as the future of African music in the U.S. moving forward, both from a musical perspective and an industry perspective?
The sky is the limit for African music in the U.S., as I foresee continued cross-pollination to move it forward. It has proven its potential to top charts in urban, pop, and even in the dance space. It simply cannot be ignored and the Recording Academy has made an intelligent and timely decision. I could not be more excited for the future. Everyone wants a piece of the action.