From carrying around a 2.5KG brick of Ace Maize Meal for some good ol’ fashion pap to snacking on a packet of go-slo’s in Gunna’s presence, Jozi-bred singer-songwriter Tyla hasn’t shed the girl-next-door persona she climbed to the top with. She’s worn it with the same intention as her sand-weaved outfit at the Met Gala: owning what’s seemingly ordinary and nondescript and converting it into a fashion statement. The globe-trotting Grammy winner has returned with a Nabil-directed music video of her dancehall-inspired single “Jump” alongside American rapper Gunna and Jamaican DJ Skillibeng, taking to the streets of her home city to animate the song from her acclaimed self-titled debut album.
Styled by her personal stylist Katie Qian, Tyla’s wardrobe leans characteristically on the minimalist side of her urban fairy avatar, with braided hair held in place by a golden silk head scarf, while showing a lot of skin in her kaleidoscopic bras, short short jeans and feet fitted with sinewy heels. The simplicity behind the muse of her clothing selection presents Tyla as being one with the humble and bustling setting of the fringes of the City of Gold.
With snapshots depicting Tyla seated on a white plastic seat getting her hair done while little girls play jump rope and frames of her emerging from a corrugated iron salon amid the dusty streets, the visuals for “Jump” present an unpretentious side of one of Africa’s wealthiest cities. More Mzansi-imbued facets include everyday men squatting on the corners blowing plumes of cigarette smoke, road rage-possessed taxi drivers trying to get through the day without blowing a gasket, and a leather-clad cohort of pantsula dancers.
Watch “Jump”:
However, Tyla’s ocular presentation isn’t as straightforward as expected, since she’s playing host to two of her guests from different countries. The intelligence behind the music video comes from uniting Jamaica, South Africa and America under one common denominator: a predilection for celebrating using nightclubs as a means to achieve the feat. With vigorous twerking to spice up the music video with a Caribbean feel and Zulu dancers adding surrealistic zest to the nightclub scene in “Jump”, the visuals look like a hybrid of American nightlife tempered with Southern African and Caribbean influences.
With “Jump”, Tyla is more vulgar when it comes to the expression of her naughty side, but this isn’t to say that she sacrifices any of her class. If anything, her styling is consistent with her endearing fairy-esque image as she continues to show more and more gradations of herself as a sensual being. The sexual appeal is present, the dance moves – as subtle as can be – are executed in moderation, and the inclusion of the community impart the texture of a slice of life on the visuals. When all these are combined, they transform “Jump” into a music video that narrates a story of celebration, the beauty of native and diaspora cultures, and the closeness of people despite geographic differences.
The visuals for “Jump” are a kinetic collage of a trinity of three different ways of life glued together by Tyla’s cosmopolite matrix: her being a global It Girl whilst still assuming the role of the down-to-earth but far-from-demure star.
