"Getting Late" is the debut single by South African singer Tyla featuring producer Kooldrink. It was produced by Kooldrink and Rogan Kelly, and released on 25 October 2019. Filmed during the pandemic lockdowns, the music video released in January 2021 racked up over 2 million views by May 2021 after its dance challenge received attention and secured Tyla a deal with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. Musically, the song combines

Amapiano Amapiano is a genre of music from South Africa that became popular in mid-2012 with an earlier regular occurrence on South African radio stations in the early 2000s. It is a hybrid of kwaito, deep house, gqom, jazz, soul, and lounge music char ...

and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

with Kooldrink's EDM beats over Tyla's smooth R&B vocals and elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

. Tyla stated she wanted to incorporate pop music into Amapiano to make it suit her more as she felt the genre had been "male dominated".

Background, release, and composition

"Getting Late" was originally released on 25 October 2019 independently by Tyla. After filming took place before and during the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Tyla released the music video on 28 January 2021, it would go viral in her home country of Johannesburg, South Africa and the US, racking up 40,000 views within 15 hours, months later she would sign to record label Epic Records. The song has elements of jazz and house music with a mixture of pop and amapiano, which would later become Tyla's signature sound that she would dub herself as "pop-iano". Tyla had said in an interview with Phoenix Magazine in 2021: She did end up releasing both an EP and album under Fax/Epic Records in 2024, entitled '' Tyla'' to critical and commercial success.

Music video

The music video directed by Tyla's then manager premiered on 28 January 2021, and centers around Tyla and her troupe of female dancers bringing to life 2000s R&B music video visuals in Johannesburg’s landscape. All paired with marching bands and cheerleaders, laser lights, lingerie and mansions.

Reception

The song received positive reviews upon release. Many complimented Tyla's sultry R&B vocals over the amapiano track and Kooldrink's EDM production. "Getting Late" emerged as a success after a dance challenge on TikTok, started by Tyla in 2021 received heavy attention with videos racking up over 10.8 million likes on the platform by May 2021. Tyla told Headliner Magazine in 2021:

It just blew up, I never decided to get on TikTok just to promote my music. I enjoy making videos, it's something that I genuinely like doing. And the fact that I was able to broaden my audience through that and create a challenge that a lot of people are doing, it just took things to the next level. It helped me connect with my supporters from all over the world. So it definitely did play a huge part in the success.

References

{{Reflist 2019 debut singles 2019 songs Tyla (South African singer) songs Amapiano songs Electronic dance music songs Contemporary R&B songs Songs written by Tyla (South African singer)