Tyla: “Been Thinking”
The South African pop artist Tyla’s debut single “Getting Late” set her up as a budding princess of amapiano, its music video imagining her as queen bee in a fantastical African city inhabited by young adults with impeccable rhythm. Her latest single “Been Thinking” is a slick club anthem that channels the seductive pop-R&B hits of mid-2000s Ciara and Rihanna. “Somebody call up Usher ’cause I got it bad,” Tyla croons, rabid from a glimpse of her crush’s sweaty body swaying under strobe lights and fantasizing about taking his clothes off. Though she’s overwhelmed by obsession—“If I ever make you mine, I’ma have to leave your fine ass home”— her subtle vocal runs project control, fluttering like butterfly wings. Meanwhile, her sultry and impeccable moves in the video all but ensure that she’s the subject of someone else’s intoxicated dreams.