''Tkay'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer and rapper

Tkay Maidza Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza ( ; born 17 December 1995) is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper. Biography Maidza was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her parents are metallurgists. In 2001, her family moved to Australia ...

. It was released on 28 October 2016 by

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mu ...

. The lead single from the album, entitled "Carry On", was released on 30 August 2016, featuring rapper and songwriter

Killer Mike Michael Santiago Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, actor, and activist. Mike made his debut on Outkast's 2000 LP '' Stankonia'', and later appeared on their Grammy-winning single ...

.Tkay by Tkay Maidza
''iTunes''. Retrieved 6 September 2016.

Background

The concept for the album began in 2014, around the time Maidza was working on her debut extended play, entitled ''Switch Tapes''. The EP was released in October 2014, through Dew Process Records. In December 2014, Maidza announced that she was working on her debut studio album. She was then signed to

Universal Music Australia Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. (UMA) is the largest Australian music corporation. It is a division of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Australia's corporate headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia. Labels Universal Musi ...

and launched her official Vevo channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. She later announced that she decided to scrap most of it because it did not go to plan. In December 2015, she was featured on

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his thir ...

's song "DKLA". The song was released on his third extended play, entitled ''

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 ...

'', in September 2015 and later featured on his debut studio album ''

Blue Neighbourhood ''Blue Neighbourhood'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer and songwriter Troye Sivan. It was released internationally on 4 December 2015 via EMI Music Australia and Capitol Records America. The album is preceded by Sivan's fourth ext ...

'', which was released in December 2015. Maidza was featured on the album alongside other artists, including

Broods Broods is a New Zealand musical duo from Nelson, composed of Georgia Josiena Nott on lead vocals, with older brother and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Allan Joseph Nott on production and backing vocals. They released the single " Bridges", which ...

and

Betty Who Jessica Anne Newham (born 5 October 1991), known by her stage name Betty Who, is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter. After independently releasing her debut single, " Somebody Loves You" (2012), and her debut extended play, '' The ...

. In 2016, Maidza gained greater international notice when she collaborated with DJ and record producer

Martin Solveig Martin Laurent Picandet (; born 22 September 1976), better known by his stage name Martin Solveig (), is a French DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer. He hosts a weekly radio show called ''C'est La Vie'' on radio stations worldwide, incl ...

on his single " Do It Right". It then sparked Maidza's lead single from the album, "Carry On", which features vocals from rapper

, and was said to have been inspired from one of Sivan's debut album collaborators Dann Hume, who previously co-wrote and produced the song "The Quiet". In the beginning of October 2016, the album's first promotional single was released, entitled "Tennies". Two weeks after, the album's second official single, entitled "Simulation", was released on 16 October 2016. The song was revealed to have been co-written with rising electronic musician George Maple, who previously co-wrote and co-produced Maidza's song "Ghost". The album was eventually released in the Americas and Australia. She also announced that European version the album has been delayed and will eventually be released in January 2017. In December, the song "Tennies" was used to promote the new iWatch in partnership with Nike in their new advertisement which was premiered in early December 2016. The album was also released in the UK and Europe at the later date of 20 January 2017.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 debut albums Tkay Maidza albums Downtown Records albums Interscope Records albums