It’s undeniable: Tyla is the face of amapiano. The 22-year-old Johannesburg singer established her pop-star status with last year’s “Water,” a Top 10 Billboard hit that brought the South African house subgenre to the masses. There are multiple reasons for its crossover success, not least of which is her unrelenting attitude towards becoming a household name. Concomitant to such strategizing is that her brand of amapiano is less concerned with winding, longform dance numbers — as is typical for her contemporaries — than bite-sized pop songs attuned to Western R&B.

In listening to her phenomenal self-titled debut from earlier this year, I’m regularly transfixed by how it feels like a global album. “Safer,” the first full song on the LP, owes its moody vocal harmonies to Nigerian singer Asake, an artist who elevated Afropiano (Afrobeats x amapiano) to a style that transcended simple genre mashing. Guest features on Tyla include Gunna, Tems, Skillibeng, Travis Scott, and Becky G. “Priorities” could be a Kehlani track.

The biggest question on my mind while entering Chicago’s Thalia Hall Wednesday night is how Tyla will perform at the height of a career that ballooned so quickly. Earlier this year, she canceled dozens of concerts and festival appearances due to an injury, and this performance — an official Lollapalooza aftershow — marks her first concert since Tyla dropped. Everyone who bought a ticket was told the show would start at 7:30pm. It wasn’t explained, however, that there’d be an opener, but as I walk up the venue’s stairs, I see a chalkboard drawing noting that Nigerian DJ, producer, and Tyla collaborator Spinall is here.

we’re here… pic.twitter.com/bayUgbCA2M

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) August 1, 2024

After much waiting, he comes on stage at 8:20pm to make a cheeky announcement: “I’ve only got 10 minutes to show you Africa.” He rifles through a series of hits that are unbeknownst to most of the crowd. There’s Rema’s “Woman,” Davido’s “Unavailable,” and Asake’s “Organise.” Most illuminating is when he plays a remix of “Mnike,” one of the most inescapable South African hits of 2023, to little fanfare. All this is in stark contrast to when I saw Nigerian superstar Davido a couple years ago. It is not an exaggeration to say that the only non-Black people in attendance that night were a handful of white girlfriends and myself, and it was a tremendous experience to hear the entire crowd erupt every time a DJ played an Afrobeats classic. At tonight’s show, I notice the crowd is more racially diverse and Afrobeats-agnostic, a fact that is highlighted when Spinall puts on Drake’s “One Dance” — it’s the only track that everyone screams and sings along to.

This preamble leaves me curious about how Tyla will position herself. Her album, as accomplished as it is, does not channel the energy of a traditional amapiano record (many of which run two or three hours long), nor does it suit a club night filled with such tracks (indeed, there are amapiano-dedicated DJ nights in Chicago). It’s a more pop affair, and when she begins the show by walking from stage left atop a platform in a headpiece, it is exceedingly clear that this is more about spectacle than communal dancing. Or so I thought. She begins with “Safer,” and even though she could’ve sung through the chorus, she starts dancing instead. When she follows with “On My Body,” multiple dancers arrive beside her and she spends Becky G’s verse following a specific choreography. In a Tyla set, dancing and singing hold equal weight.

Tyla dancing at the end of “Ke Shy” at Thalia Hall in Chicago, 7/31/24 pic.twitter.com/FsdbLTqVPu

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) August 1, 2024

It’s especially electrifying whenever she moves into full-on dance territory. We hear “Thata Ahh” and “Bana Ba,” traditional amapiano tracks that are twice the length of those on Tyla. For the former, she teaches us how to sing the titular words, but otherwise lets the dancers get the shine. For the latter, she only comes on stage near the end to sing, delivering chirpy, playful melodies that are more reminiscent of South African duo Mellow & Sleazy than the smooth crooning she’s known for. At one point she offers another non-album track in “Ke Shy,” and devotes its final sequence to dancing. These tracks hit hard, and she knows it: In surrendering to the booming basslines and percussion, she makes the energy even more palpable to everyone watching.

Because these songs are less popular and more suited for dancing, there are less phones in the air when they’re on. Still, it is hard not to whip out your phone when she brings out her hits. “ART” is one of the most mesmerizing songs of the night because of its meticulous choreography. Her dancers hold up makeshift picture frames while twirling around her and each other. At one point, they fall to the ground and huddle around her: a frame made of bodies. She knows how to put on a show in quieter modes, too. The confessional “Breathe Me” begins with her kneeling on a platform. Throughout the song, she stands up, moves to the very front, and gets back on her knees. “Baby, no, you don’t need no air/ Just breathe me,” she pleads. I get shivers.

Other moments in the night stand out: A mash-up of “On And On” with Aaliyah’s “Rock The Boat” that proudly telegraphs her love for American R&B, a passionate lip-sync of Tems’ verse during “No. 1,” the crowd going totally ballistic through the dancehall-ish “Jump.” And to close everything out, she gets off the stage to perform “Water” in front of everyone. It’s as seductive and sultry as ever. The power of the song is in its group chant: “Make me sweat, make me hotter/ Make me lose my breath, make me water.” It’s the sort of unabashed declaration that makes intimacy — and craving it — feel like the only thing that matters. To shout it with hundreds of people turns it into a statement of purpose, a mantra.

As she finishes the song, she explains that she exceeded her time and needs to get off stage. Still, she sticks around to say a few words, thanking us for our patience. “This was my first time performing in America,” she explains. This isn’t exactly true. She performed in Brooklyn last year alongside South African DJ Uncle Waffles. But this is her first North American headlining gig, and if the show is meant to mark the beginning of something new, the revisionist history made sense: Here was a full production complete with thoughtful stage design, six additional dancers, and an unexpected setlist that flaunted her versatility. She covers her face as we applaud, bashful about the attention, but then confidently struts out. She can’t help but be a star.

Tyla performing “Water” at Thalia Hall in Chicago, 7/31/24 pic.twitter.com/MPFjNMezfL

— Joshua Minsoo Kim (@misterminsoo) August 1, 2024