She made us sweat in 2023 with her massive record ‘Water’ and now she’s making us ‘Jump’.
If you recognise the lines, “Make me sweat, make me hotter / Make me lose my breath, make me water ” then you definitely know Tyla is. Debuting in 2019 with her single ‘Getting Late’, she has now garnered 32 million monthly listeners on Spotify, through her music which fuses Pop/R&B with Amapiano beats, which can be heard throughout her self-titled debut. If you are still unsure, her latest music video introduces you to the life of the South African singer.
‘Jump’ is the fourth single from her first-ever album which was released just shy of two months ago. Much like the prior tracks released before the full record, Tyla seamlessly blends sounds from the Afrobeats and Pop scene to create another standout hit. The newest track from ‘TYLA’ pays homage to her culture not only visually but lyrically as well, “Tump, tump, tump, tump, back it up-tup (Hm, haibo)”. The latter phrase is a word which derives from South African speech meaning shock. The hitmaker is also aware that she is bringing her culture along with her popstar image as now everyone is invested in her country, “They never had a pretty girl from Jo’burg / See me now and that’s what they prefer ”.
Starting with the landscape, Tyla sets the tone by highlighting the Hillbrow Tower, a prestigious landmark and Africa’s tallest building for over fifty years until the construction of the Iconic Tower in Egypt in 2021. It’s also fascinating how the singer has chosen to not only open the video with this shot but film the whole video in this suburb as opposed to the prestigious areas of Johannesburg, she wants the people and culture at the forefront. The Johannesburg native is not using her platform to boast or brag about her luxuries, instead, she is using her three minutes and nineteen seconds to capture every element of her city.
There are other cultural elements intertwined throughout this vibrant project, at just under a minute in, we find another nod to her home country. A group of people are gathered around a table, eyes fixed on a board game. This isn’t just any usual game, it’s a South African tradition, Morabaraba. Unfortunately, this group had a disagreement flipping the table mid-game.
But, they managed to put their differences aside to demonstrate another key aspect of culture in South Africa, dance. Pantsula, which the dancers can be found replicating, was used as a response and expression to various issues. It gave communities a voice during the Apartheid era. This form of movement was crucial in allowing South Africans to display their identity, being not just a celebration of culture but also one of defiance and protest against the Government.
It’s clear that Tyla and director Nabil have put a lot of care and consideration into this video. This comes as no surprise as the Australian director has worked with the songstress on her other singles ‘Truth or Dare’ and ‘ART’. The two make a formidable duo.
Words by Thomas Melia
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