THE SURREAL LIFE OF TYLA

Inside the dizzying, meteoric rise of a true African pop star.

- Alexis Okeowo

The night before the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Tyla was unusually calm. The South African singer was about to give a surprise performance at the Prelude to the Olympics, held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and attended by celebrities from Zendaya to LeBron James.

"I was asked to do the event by Pharrell [Williams, Louis Vuitton Men's creative director], so it was insane-an instant 'Yes," she says. "Sometimes I'm nervous, like I'm really nervous." But this time, Tyla looked forward to the show the entire day.

She dressed in an oversize black and yellow jersey from Louis Vuitton Men's yet-to-be-released spring 2025 collection, over spandex shorts and thigh-high boots, and performed four songs, including her runaway hit "Water." "I felt hot," she says with a smile. "When I got on, I knew it was going to be that type of crowd: professional, don't dance much. But regardless, I had so much fun." Tyla teased the VIP audience as she sang: "I even called them out onstage like, You guys are stiff.""

Days before, Tyla had been in London, where she was in rehearsal for upcoming shows-including Chicago's Lollapalooza, her first big music festival in the United States and making both a deluxe album of her self-titled debut EP and new music. At 22, she has had one of the fastest, most explosive rises in music-a true African pop star with a following that spans much of the world. "I just started seeing stars," Ezekiel Lewis, president of Tyla's label, Epic Records, says of first seeing a video of her performing.