A*POP, a review
Tyla, what are we doing here?
Being a pop star is hard. It requires effort and forces an agonising balance between the aspirational and the relatable that many find unsustainable. You have to not just capture the attention of the public, but maintain their affection in order to succeed. It isn’t enough to be good, you have to be loved.
Within this context, Tyla’s sophmore record is a conundrum. I hesitate to say that A*POP is “bad” in the classical sense for pop records. There is nothing particularly embarrassing across the 44 minute runtime. Tyla sounds fine. You’ll find a couple of gems amongst the tracklist. But as a follow up to her debut record TYLA+ (2024), or last year’s EP WWP (2025), it is a rushed and clumsy mess of a record with glaring production issues and an obvious delineation between the singles and whatever else she recorded to fill out the runtime.
Before the bulk of the review, I want to note that there are several high points to celebrate. KISS is genuinely enthralling to listen to, and THAT GIRL will likely become one of social media’s “lost hits” in the coming months as the album almost certainly comes and goes. RIGHT NOW is a slinky sex record that is a style Tyla should explore more, and MR. NONCHALANT is distinct on the record in a very necessary way. CHANEL remains a fun song.
But A*POP is flawed.
Tyla has described the album as “made in the bush” and that feels accurate. There’s a distinct lack of finesse in the vocal production that can make much of the middle second of the record sound like demos yet to be mixed. FAIRYTALE is probably the worst offender in this regard, where she and Liquideep sound flat and almost tinny throughout. Which is a shame, as the song has one of the better new hooks on the record - at least until it becomes monotonous. It is followed by DOUBLE BLIND, where reverb is used liberally to try and fill out the mix. That song at least recognises that Tyla’s voice, while pretty, is in desperate need of some heft behind it.
There will be people who dislike A*POP based solely off of the marketing. Which, in fairness, promised something distinctly more energetic and forceful than this mostly mid tempo R’n’B record. That itself is not an issue for me. What is more a concern is the general lack of dynamics in the songs. Tyla rarely builds to a crescendo, but rather vibes through the track until it fades out. While that makes the listening experience fairly frictionless, it does not encourage her to invest in making the music catchy. There are several songs that, after multiple listens, leave absolutely no impression. FEEL SOMETHING is amongst the worst (or in this case, least) offenders.
It’s a compromise that Tyla does not need to make. She rightfully understands that force is not in her repertoire, but TYLA+ proved that she can produce catchy songs without sacrificing her laid back style. Butterflies (2024) is a great example of the balance between lightness and presence can be maintained. Partially bolstered by the fact the song is extremely well written and produced with her voice in mind, which is not the case on the new songs. There’s a desire on A*POP to maintain a posture of nonchalance that acts as a wall between herself and the listener. Which is not to say that true vulnerability is necessary for a successful pop record, but Tyla often sounds anonymous on her own record. It makes so much of the record feel like background music, rather than something to pay attention to.
The inclusion of genuine low note SHE DID IT AGAIN with Zara Larsson is even more baffling in context. A blatant attempt to produce a hit on a record deeply lacking anything friendly to pop radio that hasn’t already been tried. Larsson bowls Tyla over while managing to sound clumsy and awkward, and the result is deeply uncomfortable to listen to. IS IT from the WWP EP is also out of place but here for some reason.
In a wider sense, this is the record that was bound to come out of someone like Tyla attempting to find a more permanent place amongst the pop elites that have been codified over the past few years. R’n’B has had a huge mainstream comeback as of late, there’s a distinct sense of segregation within genres that has only gotten worse in the advent of streaming, and Tyla is already at facing an uphill battle against xenophobia from US audiences - an audience she is actively courting as the biggest market in the world.
A*POP feels like a pop star being guided by businessmen looking at the data and telling her what people want. It’s why the album sounds one way but looks another. There’s no direction or intent behind it. It is soulless. Not bad in any meaningful way. Just clumsy and rushed in a way that wasn’t necessary. Tyla isn’t over just because of one mediocre album. But it is mediocre.
A*POP is fine.