In a world where racial identity is often reduced to black and white (both figuratively and literally), nuance can be lost in translation. Few artists have found themselves at the center of this conflict quite like South African star Tyla. As her career skyrocketed on the strength of her global hit, “Water,” and her self-titled debut album, she has also been forced to navigate an ongoing debate about who she is and what she represents.

The conversation around Tyla's identity reached a boiling point in 2023 when a resurfaced TikTok video from 2020 showed her proudly identifying as “a coloured South African.” While an unremarkable statement in her home country, the term “coloured” carries vastly different weight in the United States, where it is deeply tied to the racist Jim Crow era and viewed as an unacceptable slur. American social media erupted in outrage, accusing Tyla of distancing herself from Blackness and perpetuating racial hierarchies.

What was missing from said outrage was an understanding of history -- the fact that apartheid South Africa forcibly categorized its people into racial groups, including “coloured,” a term imposed by the government to divide and conquer. Tyla was not rejecting Blackness; she was using the language of her reality.

A childhood shaped by racism

This topic resurfaced during a recent interview for British VOGUE, which revealed the first time Tyla's identity was ever questioned. Long before she was navigating the global stage, she was a child learning how the world saw her. “I went to a very white primary school,” she told the publication. “I really hated myself.” She reflected on being bullied for her features. “‘Your hair’s so poofy. Your hair looks better straight,'" she recalled. "'Look how much darker you are!'” These words, thrown carelessly by her peers, stuck to her like a second skin and forced her into a battle with self-acceptance before she even knew who she was.

She eventually found resolution in high school, a predominantly Black and culturally rich environment where, for the first time, she saw herself reflected in those around her. “That’s where I actually grew to love myself and became really proud of who I am,” she said. But even with that personal growth, the world still demanded that she explain herself. When she refused to further address the controversy in a June 2024 interview with Charlamagne tha God, some saw it as defiance, others as avoidance. In reality, it was self-preservation.

Why she refused to explain herself

“Me choosing not to say anything, I’m happy that I didn’t,” she expressed. “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.” And who could blame her? The internet is not often a space for learning but for outrage, or for quick takes rather than meaningful dialogue. “If people really searched, they’ll see that in South Africa we had a lot of segregation. It was bad for a lot of us. They just classified us. And that just so happens to be the name that the white people called us. They chose to call people that were mixed ‘coloured.’”

Tyla continued, “You know that even if you give the best explanation, people will still choose not to understand. 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. And the people that care to learn, they understand now. And that’s enough for me.”