#APop is the hashtag for Tyla’s second studio album, A*POP, released 24 July 2026 — a 14-track follow-up to the South African star’s self-titled 2024 debut that leans further into her self-coined “A-Pop” framing (African pop as a full-scale global-pop lane, not a niche). The rollout paired the album with two of the biggest live stages available that weekend: The Today Show’s Citi Summerstage on release day and the 2026 AT&T WNBA All-Star halftime show 24 hours later, which the WNBA billed as the first international-artist headline in the event’s 28-year history.
Quick Facts
- Release date: 24 July 2026
- Length: 14 tracks
- Lead singles: “CHANEL,” “IS IT LOVE” (with Zara Larsson), “SHE DID IT AGAIN,” “IS IT”
- Debut LP: Tyla (2024) — two-time Grammy winner
- Release-week live: Today Show Citi Summerstage (24 July, NYC); WNBA All-Star halftime (25 July, Chicago)
- Historic first: First international artist to headline WNBA All-Star halftime in 28 editions
The Album
A*POP is Tyla’s sophomore full-length after a two-year post-debut run that yielded a Grammy and a global amapiano-pop breakthrough. The tracklist — 14 songs, notably deeper than the ten-track Tyla — collects the pre-released singles “CHANEL,” “IS IT LOVE” (with Zara Larsson), “SHE DID IT AGAIN,” and “IS IT” alongside new material. Broadway World, TimesLive and HYPE Magazine framed the record as an argument for the title itself: Tyla has repeatedly told interviewers that she “brings the A in pop,” pushing back on the tendency to file African artists under geography rather than genre.
Commercial Success
The release week was engineered around two hard-to-book slots that reach very different audiences:
- 24 July — Today Show Citi Summerstage, NYC: her album-drop broadcast performance, feeding morning-TV coverage and same-day social clips.
- 25 July — WNBA All-Star halftime, Chicago: the historic-first booking that put A*POP in front of a national broadcast crowd on ABC and Disney+ within 24 hours of release.
Fan Reactions
Reaction was split along familiar-with-Tyla lines. Positive takes praised the deeper tracklist and her push to widen the sound: “Tyla come get your 10s, this is such a good album” was a widely reposted early reaction. Others were cooler, telling outlets they had been “waiting for something big that never came.” WNBA players themselves helped drive the halftime hype — champion Natasha Cloud posted a shocked-emoji reaction to the booking, and Golden State Valkyries guard Kaila Charles quoted “Omg yes yes yes.”
Industry Impact
Tyla’s WNBA halftime slot, coming days after both the #WorldCup final and Wimbledon, extended a summer 2026 pattern of Global South pop artists anchoring US-league marquee moments — a data point WNBA marketing leaned into as it scaled the All-Star broadcast footprint on ABC and Disney+.
Variations & Related Tags
Common variants include #TylaAPop, #APOP and #AfroPopTyla. The album sits inside the wider #Amapiano conversation and shares its release date with #RealityAwaits (The Strokes) and #MusicFashionFilm (#CharliXCX).
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*Pop
- https://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2026-07-24-i-bring-the-a-in-pop-tyla-drops-new-album/
- https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/Multi-platinum-2x-Grammy-winning-Global-Superstar-Tyla-Makes-Her-Grand-Return-Sophomore-Studio-Album-Apop-20260724
- https://pr.nba.com/tyla-2026-wnba-all-star-game/
- https://hypemagazine.co.za/2026/07/24/tyla-to-headline-2026-wnba-all-star-halftime-show-fresh-off-the-release-of-apop/
- https://thesource.com/2026/04/23/tyla-apop-album-announcement/
- https://www.today.com/video/music-superstar-tyla-talks-new-highly-anticipated-album-a-pop-267224133662