The singer first called herself a ‘colored South African’ in a 2020 TikTok which sparked backlash after resurfacing three years later. “I just would have wanted an opportunity for people to actually truly listen and learn.”. “Me choosing not to say anything, I’m happy that I didn’t,” she told British Vogue about the radio show appearance. “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. They said a whole bunch of things that I never said and ran with it,” Tyla continued. She explained South Africa experienced its own period of segregation where anyone who wasn’t white was classified as “colored.”. “They chose to call people that were mixed ‘colored.’ And I’m not gonna lie, it was hard because all my life, obviously I knew ‘I’m Black’ but also knew that ‘I’m colored,’” the “Truth or Dare” singer said.
“So when I went to America and people were like, ‘You can’t say that!’ I was in a position where I was like, ‘Oh, so what do I do? What am I then?’”. Tyla said this wasn’t the first time she’s questioned her identity as she recalled receiving negative comments about both her hair and skin color in elementary school. “I went to a very white primary school,” she told British Vogue.
“I really hated myself. And then I went to high school, which was predominantly Black and cultured, and that’s where I actually grew to love myself and became really proud of who I am.”. Since the backlash first started, Tyla admitted that she acknowledges that there will still be people who don’t fully understand her explanation but she feels comfortable with her own identity at this point. “I’m at a point where I know who I am. I know I’m a Black woman and I know I’m a colored woman as well and you can be both,” she said. “And the people that care to learn, they understand now. And that’s enough for me.”.
.jpg?auto=webp&width=800)