South African superstar Tyla signs multi-million dollar deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation

Tyla, the South African singer who won a Grammy Award in 2024 for her hit Water and became the first solo African artist to win in the Best African Music Performance category, has signed a multi-million dollar global deal with Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, joining one of the most powerful rosters in the music industry just weeks before the release of her second studio album.

The signing was announced on July 1, 2026, through a dramatic digital takeover in New York's Times Square, where the Roc Nation triangle logo appeared alongside a welcome message for Tyla. The move follows the expiration of her deal with Epic Records, which she chose not to renew, ending an association with the Sony label that had released Water and her 2024 debut album.

The deal places Tyla alongside an elite roster of artists under Roc Nation's management and label umbrella, including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tiwa Savage, Ayra Starr and J Balvin. The timing is deliberate. Tyla's sophomore album APop is scheduled for release on July 24, 2026, and Roc Nation's global network and brand-building infrastructure will underpin its international campaign.

Tyla, whose full name is Tyla Laura Seethal, was born in Johannesburg in 2002 and grew up in the suburb of Rosebank. She began making music at 15, posting covers on YouTube and Instagram before signing with Epic through a deal brokered by her management. Water, released in 2023, became a global streaming phenomenon with more than 400 million streams on Spotify alone, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and driving a broader international audience for amapiano-influenced pop music. The Grammy win in February 2024, at the inaugural Best African Music Performance category, made her the youngest solo artist to win in that category and the most internationally visible South African musician of her generation.

Roc Nation was founded by Jay-Z in 2008 and has expanded from a music management company into a diversified entertainment operation spanning sports management, music publishing, touring, philanthropy and social justice advocacy. Jay-Z's net worth, estimated at approximately $2.8 billion by Forbes, makes him the wealthiest artist in the history of the music business, and Roc Nation's institutional weight reflects the decade and a half he has spent building it beyond his own recording career.