Tyla has had enough of the back-and-forth about her racial identity, and understandably so. On Tuesday (Feb. 18), during a sit-down with British Vogue, the “PUSH 2 START” singer made it clear she is putting the whole Black vs. Coloured debate behind her for good.
“You know that even if you give the best explanation, people will still choose not to understand,” Tyla told the publication regarding why she is not wasting energy trying to make everyone see the bigger picture. “But I’m at a point where I know who I am. I know I’m a Black woman, and I know I’m a Coloured woman as well, and you can be both.”
She added, “And the people that care to learn, they understand now. And that’s enough for me.” One would hope the Johannesburg, South African native would not have to keep explaining herself, especially when the loudest critics are the ones unwilling to grasp the cultural context in the first place. But here we are.
The controversy surrounding Tyla’s identity picked up traction in 2023 after an old TikTok resurfaced where she described herself as a “Coloured South African.” The Grammy Award winner’s phrasing particularly caught stateside fans off guard, given that “colored” is an outdated term tied to segregation in the United States. However, in South Africa, “Coloured” is still an official racial classification with a completely different meaning.
The Controversy Gained Fuel During Tyla’s Interview With “The Breakfast Club”
In 2024, Charlamagne Tha God asked Tyla what it meant to be a “South African Coloured person." What followed was one of the more awkward exchanges on his show, with Tyla sitting quietly while he went back and forth with someone from her team. To make matters worse, it turned out the question was on the list of topics she did not want to discuss.
“Me choosing not to say anything, I’m happy that I didn’t,” Tyla reflected on the sit-down. “I didn’t want to explain my culture and something that is really important to me on a platform that is just going to be purposefully misconstrued. I’ve explained it a lot of times before, but people took that and put words in my mouth.”