Tyla Laura Seethal was born on 30 January 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a coloured family of Indian, Zulu, Mauritian and Irish descent. She studied at Edenglen High School in 2019[4] and began posting original songs and covers on her Instagram account, as well as sending them to various people in the music industry, and was later discovered by her first manager, who organised her first recording sessions. Known mononymously as Tyla, she is a South African singer-songwriter. She signed to Epic Records in 2021 after the national success of her debut single "Getting Late" with Kooldrink. Tyla rose to international prominence with her 2023 single "Water", which entered the charts in seventeen countries, including reaching the top ten of the UK Singles Chart. This also made her the first South African solo artist in 55 years to enter the US Billboard Hot 100. Her musical style is characterised by a fusion of pop and Amapiano, with many publications dubbing her the "Queen of Popiano".