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At just 22, you’ve been on so many stages; you’ve been at CMA Fest, you’ve opened for huge names. How does this all feel for you?

Tyla: Honestly, I still pinch myself. I mean, the fact that I have spent more time overseas this year than I have in my home is just madness to me. I’ve covered off, like I said, three new countries and twelve cities that I’ve never been to in my life. And I think with every year that passes, I’m constantly thinking like that. That’s it. Like it can’t get better than this year. It can’t get any better. And then with every year, it just somehow seems to get better and better. And so I’m feeling incredibly grateful and humbled by just the way that my career and the journey has come about. I think my music career and the way that it started came so naturally and organically. You know, I still feel like it was yesterday that I was graduating high school and preparing to go and study to be a paramedic. And now I look back, and I’m like, I don’t know, like what I would be doing if I’m not doing this. And so I’m feeling, I’m feeling all the feelings, but especially grateful.

How have you been able to find your own voice in a genre that has such a rich history?

Tyla: Oh, that’s a good question. I feel like if we’re starting from the beginning, I feel lucky that both my mom and dad graced me with a very large musical vocabulary. I was listening to everything from Stevie Wonder to Tupac to, you know, to pop artists to, you know, R&B, country music. Vince Gill, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban. There was just a whole bunch of music that I was exposed to at such a young age. And I had such an appreciation for all of it, too. And, as I said, throughout school and that time where I was really just realizing this is what I love to do, I was singing everything that I could just because I loved it. And then I was actually born and raised in a city called Melbourne, in Victoria, back home in Australia. And then in 2019, just before COVID hit, actually, I moved to a state called Queensland. And in Brisbane, southeast Queensland especially, there is a really big country music influence and drive. And I guess that was the moment where I was like, I love this genre, especially because of the storytelling and everything else involved in it. And so moving to that state, I think, really gave me a push in the direction of what I loved. And I’m so glad that that happened. You know, when you look back and it’s like all these little moments that really influence your life and where you are right now, I think that was one of them because being in that environment really encouraged me to chase the thing that I loved most in the genre that I loved most and the sound that I feel like I have still comes from all of those early influences. As I said, you know, R&B, soul and country music were some of my main inspirations at the time. And I think that I’ve just gone forth with that. You know, I’ve just always loved that style. And definitely there was times where there was a bit of pushback, especially in the early stages of my career where, you know, people would say to me, hey, you’re really good, but if you did this, you could be like a superstar. You could be a rock star. You could be, you know, you’d be flying like years ahead. And I’m just kind of like, you know, I appreciate that. And of course, when I was starting my career, I was trying to take every piece of advice, as I do now on board. But in a career like this one, I think it’s very important to stick to the things about it that made you happy because it could be a difficult, you know, career. And if you don’t one hundred percent love what you do and are passionate about it and care about the art that you’re making too, I think it’s gonna lead to, unfortunately, hating what you do. And so for me, it’s always been very important to stay true to the art that I want to make and the story that I want to tell. And I think I owe that to the team around me that have always encouraged me to stick to that path, but also the artists that I’m inspired by. I’m heavily inspired by Miranda Lambert and Vince Gill. And I feel like they’re two artists that consistently stuck to what they loved. You can tell just in the way they release their music and their evolution over time, where it’s like maybe what they were going through in their life or other things like that just directly reflect the type of music they’re releasing. Right. And it didn’t really matter about the trends that were going on in the time. So I think that that’s, that’s how I’ve kind of stuck to my own path.

Your song “Can’t Keep Doing This” reached top ten on Australian country radio, which is amazing. How has that song changed the way that you view your career and where you’re headed?

Tyla: Yeah, I honestly, that song for me, and it’s a funny one. I wrote that with some of my favorite people slash songwriters. Jordan Dorsey, he is an Australian who’s moved over to Nashville, and, you know, he has paved an incredible path for himself. He was on, believe it’s, man made a bar; he wrote one of those number ones, a couple number ones now for Morgan Wallen, I believe. Fact-check me on that. But my producer, Jared Adlam, and we got into the room, and we pieced this song together in a songwriters’ camp. And I was sitting on it for a little while, and I was like, I really love the song. I just wonder, you know, to me, it didn’t feel like anything super out of the box. Right? It was a story that came from, I guess, my idea of living the life of a touring musician. And, you know, sometimes you pick up some not-so-great habits along the way. And there’s just things that you do, as I said, that aren’t necessarily the right way to go about things, but, you know, that’s the lifestyle you tend to have when you’re on the road so much and you’re playing music, and it’s kind of a tongue-in-cheek kind of funny song. And we wrote it, and I loved it. And I started playing it with the band. And I was just wondering; I was like, you know, it doesn’t feel like anything original. It doesn’t really feel like anything too extraordinary. I loved the song, but then we started playing it live, and the feedback that we got from the crowd was intense. And I was like, this is great. I mean, I love to perform and I just didn’t think it would, you know, make a ripple or anything like that. And then I released it, and it’s now the song in my set list that people in the crowd- I can hear them singing it louder than me. And it’s pretty special. And something that I learned from that song, and the way it’s kind of impacted my career, would have to be that sometimes there’s stories or things that you maybe feel like, oh, you know, I’m not special for feeling this way, or I am too special for feeling this way. You know, maybe it’s something that no one else has felt before, and it’s too niche or anything like that. But I’ve learned that songs will find their people and that story will find the people that need to hear it. And so I love that about music and its ability to connect people.

Do you feel like there is a difference between performing on international stages and performing back home? And what have you learned from country music fans around the world?

Tyla: Yeah. Honestly, the first and biggest thing that comes to mind is our, I mean, Australians, I think, have a funny sense of humor at the best of times. It can be, you know, a little forward, but definitely something this year I have learnt is that even though, you know, the United States and Canada have been two out of my three countries this year that I’ve gotten to travel and play in, and even though we’re English speaking countries, sometimes like our lingo in Australia is a little bit different, or some jokes that we might make is a little different. And, you know, on stage, I like my show to be- of course we rehearsed- but definitely there’s tendency for us to go off the tracks a little bit, or I love the feeling of live music and kind of just doing what feels right in the moment. And there’s definitely been times where I’ll make a joke that, I mean, I think I’m funny, but, you know, maybe they don’t land as well, like in the crowd, if they don’t get sarcasm or they don’t get. And so that’s the biggest thing I’ve had to learn is that sometimes you just have to adapt little bits and pieces with where you’re traveling to and your audience. And so that’s been a funny little thing that I’ve picked up. And of course, in some of my sets, I like to chuck in a cover every now and again. A song that I love to sing, a song that I get to sing with the audience. Maybe if they haven’t heard of me before or my music. And another thing that I realized is that maybe a song that is really big at home, that people love and the audience love might not be the same in another country. And so it’s just kind of picking up on those little local insights, I guess. But I absolutely love getting to travel the world playing country music. And one thing that I’ve learned about country music fans is that they are passionate about country music. They just love it. They, you know, I went to Europe for C2C Festival, and I got to play in Germany, and I got to play in London, and I got to play some, you know, little towns in Germany and things like that. And I will never forget; I had a meet-and-greet in the morning in Berlin. And, you know, I don’t know whether this is just because- I mean, I consider myself a fairly humble person, but there was definitely a big part of me. It was my first time going to Europe. I was like, I didn’t expect anyone to care. I was there, no, I was there. Know who I am. But I did a meet-and-greet first thing in the morning, and the line was down the street, which was madness to me. And then I met people, and I took photos with them, and we did all that. And I had a show; I think it was the middle of the day. And then I had one more in the evening, and I had done my first show, and I had been coming back to the artist area, and then there was three or four people waiting there, and they had gone, printed the photo that we took together in the morning and brought them back to me, like to sign them, and so just blew my mind. The passion and how in love country music fans are with the genre and the artists in it. And so that’s something I’ve just loved getting to experience through this year.

You’ve said that ‘Honky Tonk Healing’ is for people who walk into a bar carrying the weight of the world and leave feeling a little lighter. What role does your music play in helping you carry the weight of your own world?

Tyla: Oh man, that’s a good question. I think my music and songwriting really carries the whole weight of my world. I think songwriting is the place that I go whenever I need something. If I’m in a good mood, bad mood, or anything in between. I went through a period, I think it was last year, where I had a really intense songwriter’s block, and I don’t know what it was, but I just, I had been doing a lot of co-writing, which I absolutely love, and I’m fairly new to co-writing in the scheme of things. But I had started co-writing, and then that’s kind of all I did for a long period of time. And as I said, while I love co-writing, what it does is it kind of, I won’t say it’s a cheating way of songwriting by any means, because it’s just as hard to write a song with a group of people as it can be on your own, but definitely it can be a little easier when you’re in a room of people and you get to bounce your idea. Because, of course, if you’re in a room with two other people, you have two other perspectives on what you’re talking about. You have two other people to help you unlock the rhyme in the song and things like that. And of course they lend a little bit of validation too, whether it’s like, hey, that’s a great line or, hmm, not sure if that’s so good; we can beat it. Let’s do better. But when you’re on your own, and it’s just you and your guitar and your songwriting book, it’s just kind of you’re back to square one, and it’s like, for a little bit, I was questioning a lot of, “Is this any good?” “Am I really saying what I want to say here” and all that sort of stuff? And I had a big period of time where I struggled to write a song on my own. And then I think I was going through a phase where there was a fair bit changing in my life, and I was just in a funny spot, and I didn’t know how to comprehend how I was feeling. But then I wrote a song, and I wrote something that I was pretty proud of and it always brings me back to the point of songwriting isn’t always just about, well, for me, it’s never really about writing a hit or a number one radio song or anything like that. It’s about telling the truth and about, you know, how you’re feeling. And in the hope that that connects other people instead of has this got good structure, has this, you know, I think music is so- I love that we’re in a period of time where there’s kind of no boundaries. I think music at the moment is really pushing against that thing of, oh, this has to be a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, you know, out something along those lines. And so, yeah, for me, coming back to that and having that realization that I can write whatever the hell I want and, you know, and make that into a song, that always really grounds me. And that’s the thing that always brings me back down to earth and how my songwriting kind of connects and keeps my two feet on the ground.

Is that song out- the one you wrote after your writer’s block?

Tyla: No, it’s not out, but I’ve definitely been working on it in the studio, so it’s one that might just be coming out eventually.

In a few of your songs, you reference advice from your mom and memories you share with your family members. How much of your songwriting is shaped by the things that you were taught growing up, and are there lessons from your childhood that continue to show up in your music today?

Tyla: That’s a great question. I really love that question. I definitely think, I mean, to this day, my family has been like my, you know, we are rock solid. And throughout my whole life it’s been that way. And I have learned a lot from that in terms of showing up for people, how you love people, how you sacrifice for people that you love. And they are lessons that I continue to learn. It’s funny, when I was younger, I don’t know what made me think this, but I just thought like, once I hit eighteen and I’m an adult, surely I’m gonna have it all figured out. Like just by then. Surely, like everything my parents have taught me and just drummed into me, I’ll just get it and it’s going to be great. But funnily enough, I learned that I feel like I need my parents now more than I ever did. And I’m twenty-two now. And so there’s like constant curveballs that life throws at me, especially in this music career. But personally as well, where I’m drawing on things that they taught me when I was seven or eight, you know what I mean? … Somehow I’m always reminded of this moment when I’m getting up and playing a show. The first tour that I ever got put on and it was by accident. So basically, how I got into country music is I was in a pop band through a competition through a radio station, and I just landed in it. And then we got handed over to a booking agent, and the booking agent said, hey, I’ve seen videos of you singing country. Is that what you like to do? Because we’ve got this tour of a couple of ladies on tour at the moment, and we need an opening act, really desperately. And I was like, well, yeah, I love country music, but I’ve never, I had never done any solo shows, aside from just a performance through school or whatever. It was just, I just was singing for the fun of it. And so they put me on this tour, and I did my first show and I got off stage and I was mortified. I was like, I never want to do that again. That was terrifying. Like, you know, it was in this rural pub in Queensland, and there was like three people in the room and I had just started learning guitar, and I just felt so nervous. And it was just, it was, I will never forget the feeling because I was like, please don’t make me do that again. And my parents were like, me, look, you’ve committed to this. You can’t pull out of the tour; at least see the two tours out and then you can make a decision from there. That’s fine. And I’m so glad that they pushed me forward because by the end of the tour, I was like, let’s do another one. And I believe that if they didn’t push me to finish that, I don’t know if I’d be doing this now. And, like I said, that just kind of comes back to me every time I’m about to get on stage, no matter what crowd I’m playing, no matter what room, whether there’s five people in there or, you know, twenty thousand at a CMC Rocks back home and things like that. And so those lessons that they’ve kind of drilled into me, they’re constantly coming up with every corner and turn that I take in this career and in life. And so I’m very grateful to have such a strong, you know, fort in my family.

Your collaboration with Braxton Keith on “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” introduced your voice to a much larger audience. What did you learn from that experience of taking a classic country song and making it feel like your own?

Tyla: Yeah, I am so grateful that we got to do that collaboration. I mean, when it first started, and obviously we’re in the progress phase of kind of getting it organized to put together, our two teams were doing Zooms back and forth, obviously, and we both got sent away to write a list of about five songs that we would want to cover or do a duet or whatever that looked like. And when we came together, “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” was number one on both of our lists without any discussion, which I thought was pretty cool because that’s a song. Every time I heard it, I was like, oh, I love everything about the song: the storytelling, the duet, the back and forth, the banter and the song. And so I was rapt when he came back and was like, this is, I was like, ‘That’s it. This is our song.’ And I mean, the whole process of putting ourselves into that story was pretty special. And even though Braxton was doing his piece on his side of the world, and I was doing my piece on my side of the world, and there was plenty of two AM Zoom calls and all the crazy things with the time zones, I just, I think it’s a song that I can connect with. And there’s something about Dolly Parton, may she rest in peace, and her songwriting that just had the ability to make you feel part of it. And I think that’s what made covering this song so easy, because you did feel like you were right there, and you did feel like you’re right about a part of the story. And I think that it’s one, definitely an honor to get to put your mark on such a classic song. But two, I think it’s important that we continue to do that and bring those songs that obviously have a huge legacy anyway, but continue to modernize them and continue to tell that same story as we move forward. I think there’s just some songs in the world that have been written that just deserve that, and that should just keep getting carried on. And so I feel pretty lucky to be part of it.

Do you feel any pressure knowing that more and more people are listening, and does it make you want to take any bigger creative risks?

Tyla: Definitely. I think right now more than ever, and it’s funny you bring that up because I’ve been, I say battling, but I don’t think it’s a battle. But I’ve definitely been feeling those changes where I think I have been putting more and maybe some unnecessary pressure on myself. And I think it’s one of those things, it’s the motion you go through when you care a lot about the product you create and what you do. And obviously the thought of more people listening or getting interested or seeing numbers growing on social media or on streaming platforms, it’s a funny thing because then you second guess everything you do. But the reality is they’re only here because of the stuff you did when you weren’t thinking about it. And so that’s something that I really try to put into perspective for myself. I’m like, you know, these people are here because they loved the vulnerability and the just creative, whatever I put out there beforehand. And so I try to keep myself in that mindset and in that space. And I think something that’s really kept me on those tracks is, one, the team of people around me. But two, back on the topic of the international air travel and getting to tour outside of Australia as well, I’m getting to meet so many artists that are in the same position. I have a new single coming out September tenth with the Cruz Brothers, who are incredible artists. They’re brothers and, oh, you won’t hear better family harmonies ever. They’re just great. And I got to meet them in Europe earlier this year. And the relationships that I’ve gotten to build, there’s been like almost a little core group of people that I keep. Like we’re following each other, like just around the countries and just chatting to them and being amongst the community that is artists who are living it, who experience the writer’s blocks and the creative dumps and all those type of things. That’s really helped me stay level headed and understand that, you know, no matter what’s going on, there’s no point in ever trying to copy or follow in someone else’s footsteps because no one really wants, like, you know, when we’ve got Ella Langley, why would someone want me to be a secondary Ella Langley? You know, they would prefer to just listen to Ella Langley. And so yeah, in a period of time where I am kind of battling, I’ve just kind of been like, well, like I said, these people are here because of what I have done pre getting into that mindset. And so I just, as you said, continue to push myself creatively to be the better version of me instead of a little bit more like someone else.

You’re currently working on your debut album. What do you feel like that chapter needs to say about you that your music hasn’t yet up to this point?

Tyla: Oh, you’re asking all the hard hitting questions today, I like that. I, when you put it that way, I’m not sure. I think that’s what I’m actively trying to figure out. I’m in the period right now of kind of, I’ve got a core group of songs that I love and I think need to be part of the album, but now I’m in like a, you can almost call it an editing phase where I’m spending the next couple of months, really, once I’m back home from this tour, going to lock myself away in my room and I guess kind of reflect on everything that has been the past twelve to twenty-four months and find the stories that I feel still need to be told. And, write with my favorite writers, get into the studio, be creative, give myself the time and space to be in that. And I think with that will then come, okay, this is what I felt like the album needed to say, but now that I’ve had the time to sit, decompress, reflect, fill my cup, that’s something that is advice that I actually got from my vocal coach that I think has been the most important, which is funny because it sounds kind of contradictive because you’re working really hard at something and you’re touring and you’re doing what you love. But there is also a time where it’s like, I need to be Tyla, not Tyla Rodriguez, to make sure that I can tell these stories effectively. And then go out on the road again and tell them. And so I think that’s what I’ll do. I’ll be getting home and I will spend the time to write a little bit more. And then hopefully there’ll be songs in there that maybe I’ll fill those gaps in the album and go, this is something that needs to be applied. And then, yeah, and then we’ll have a record.

You have a song called “I Believe In Roses,” which I absolutely love. Are you a fan of grand romantic gestures yourself, and do you think we need a little more of that kind of romance these days?

Tyla: I think so. I absolutely think so. I am very lucky to have a great guy in my life that I think he really, he set the bar for me. He set the bar. You know, the bar was low, but he set the bar. And I, I think if you had asked me this four years ago, I would have been like, no, I don’t want a bar of it. I don’t want to know. But I think when you know someone, someone does make the effort and the time to show up for you and give you those grand gestures without you needing to ask or without even expecting them. I think then it’s important. And, feeling that type of love and support from someone is, as I said, something that maybe you don’t think you need until you get it. And so I think we do need more romantic gestures in the world.

What’s one place you’ve been to that completely surprised you and one place that you’re eager to perform in?

Tyla: The shows that surprised me the most out of everything that I’ve done thus far would have to be, earlier this year when I was doing C2C in Europe. I played in Berlin, but then we did two sideshows and it was part of like Sounds of Nashville. They were putting on some shows in between the big C2C festivals, and I got to play in Frankfurt and I got to play in Munich, and I had no idea what to expect in those shows. And I got to play them with James Barker Band, who are a great Canadian band, and then McCoy Moore, who I’m pretty sure is from Florida. And if I’m not mistaken, I think they were roughly five hundred to one thousand cap rooms and they were both sold out. And that blew my mind. And then I was with my guitarist Jackson, and we got up for our set, and it was silent, like dead silent. You could hear a pin drop, and I’m pretty sure somebody’s got, like, shushed for sneezing in the room, which was intense and something I’d never experienced before. And I was like, “Are they not liking this? Is it not-” but then we’d finish a song, and they would give us a round of applause for like five to 10 seconds. And they wanted signatures, and they wanted our set lists and guitar picks. And I think it was just really cool to feel the embrace for country music in towns that you wouldn’t even expect and to feel rooms that you wouldn’t even think of. And so those are the two shows probably in Germany that have surprised me the most. In terms of a city or place that I would love to play, there are so many, there are so many. But while I’m here and on the topic, I have loved every minute of being in Canada. This is my first time, and I have always wanted to come here just because it looks beautiful. And so to be here playing country music is an absolute cherry on top. And so there’s so many cities that I would love to go and visit and play in. I have gotten to visit Vancouver this time around. I had like a twelve-hour layover. So we saw a little bit of Vancouver, but mostly got very acquainted with Vancouver Airport. And then I was in Edmonton. I got to play Boots and Hearts and then Toronto, of course. I got to play yesterday at Dolly’s, and I’ve got, I’m opening up for Jackson Dean, and then we’ll be at Rock n Horse as well. So I have gotten to see a little bit of Canada thus far, but I hope to be back and visit a few more cities here.

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