S.Africa’s music star Tyla cancels world tour due to injury

Johannesburg (AFP): South Africa’s Grammy-winning artist Tyla has cancelled her much-anticipated world tour just weeks before it was start due to an injury.

The rising music star, who gained international fame last year with hit single “Water”, said she was heartbroken after doctors advised her against proceeding with the tour.

Writing on social media, the 22-year-old said that for the past year she has been “silently suffering” with an unspecified injury that “has tragically worsened”.

“I’ve seen doctors and specialists with high hopes but the pain has only become more agonising as has the severity of the situation,” Tyla said on Instagram.

“Words cannot describe my frustration at this pivotal point in my career.

“So please know that my team and I are working diligently on a spectacular show for you as soon as I am recovered and ready to return safely onstage”.

What would have been Tyla’s maiden global tour was due to kick off in Oslo, Norway, later this month, with stops elsewhere in Europe and North America, including at the iconic Coachella festival in the California desert.

It came on the back of Tyla’s meteoric success.

Her hit “Water” made a landmark debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the leading weekly music ranking in the United States, last October.

And in February the song won the Johannesburg-born amapiano artist a Grammy for Best African Music Performance.

“It’s hard having to turn down opportunities you’ve been waiting your whole life for but God has his plan,” Tyla wrote on Thursday.

“Water” mixes genres including R&B and amapiano — itself a blend of house, jazz and lounge music, born in South Africa’s townships that is experiencing growing global popularity.