‘Read the room, Miss coloured’ – Tyla in hot water with the Americans… again

by Nomonde Simelane

Despite her best efforts to maintain a clean and unproblematic reputation, South African hotshot Tyla has been at the end of some harsh criticism, particularly from the American audience. The Water hitmaker has found herself in hot water again after she teased a music video for her hit song Push to Start.

Although the rest of the world is unsure of the inception of the agenda the United States has with Tyla, it is apparent that it will not be slowing down any time soon as the South African songstress has unintentionally ruffled their feathers once again. This comes after Tyla took to her social media to reveal that she will be releasing a music video to her popular hit song ‘Push to Start’, which formed part of her deluxe album drop this Friday.

The youngster teased a short clip which by the looks of things, is inspired by the early 2000s as she shows an old-school radio blasting her hit song.

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A post shared by Tyla (@tyla)

This rollout by mzansi’s prodigy has garnered a negative reaction from the American audience, as most things she does. This time, the Americans pointed out the horrible timing of Tyla’s marketing, considering that Donald Trump was officially announced as the 47th President of the United States (POTUS). According to these users, Tyla failed to read the room, making the timing of her rollout inappropriate as a significant percentage of America’s population is less than thrilled about the results of their general elections.

The choice of words used by these users is interesting considering the uproar that sparked after Tyla revealed during an interview that she identifies as coloured as opposed to black, as per the assumption. The strong opinion was that as an artist trying to break into the American market, adaptability would be of utmost importance, which includes accepting that since she presents as black, she will be referred to as such.

One thing Tygers have proven is that they will always stand toes behind their favourite artist, and they were quick to come to her defence, highlighting the fact that although she is a global artist, she is still South African and is catering to her local market. Furthermore, these users highlight the need for Americans to decenter themselves from the lives of global artists.

Lastly, Tygers spotlight the fact that Tyla is not at fault for Americans electing a controversial figure into the most powerful office in their country.

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