23-year-old singer and songwriter Tyla catapulted to fame in early 2024 after releasing multiple hit songs in her album “TYLA,” like “Water” and “Jump.” Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, she incorporated much of her culture into her music, blending amapiano —a type of South African house music—with pop and R&B from Western music.
In an interview for “The Breakfast Club,” a podcast hosted by Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Jess Hilarious, she was asked to explain what she meant when saying that she identifies as a coloured person in a TikTok made by her in 2020. She avoided the question, but that non-answer made fans believe she was “denying her blackness.” What people fail to realize is that in South Africa, “coloured” is not a racially motivated term, as it is in America, but rather a classification of who she is.
“Never denied my blackness, I don’t know where that came from,” Tyla said in a post on X (previously Twitter). “In South Africa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and in other places I would be classified as a Black woman. Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.”
She released a small album labeled “WWP” on July 25th, 2025, but it received a lot less support coming from the United States than her previous album. This situation makes one thing clear: a lack of understanding causes people to replace empathy with hostility and judgment.
“(Biologically), if you threaten my standing in society by disagreeing with my views, I feel like I’m built now to feel fear and want to combat that either by running away or attacking something,” psychology teacher Michael Brown said.
This phenomenon can be described as “selective empathy,” the tendency to feel less compassion or understanding with people whose beliefs conflict with our own. People tend to feel more discomfort or anger when faced with these opposing views. When someone challenges our beliefs, our brain can interpret that as a threat. As a result, we become less empathetic and more critical.
“For example, in politics, people become more critical and take it personally when others don’t fully agree with them,” sophomore class president Nylah Davis said. “(It’s different) when someone doesn’t agree with me, I’m not critical of it, I just see them in a different light. Your core beliefs and values make you who you are as a person so having different ones would change my perception of that person.”
This bias also extends into how we judge others. When someone else makes a mistake, we are quick to assume bad intentions. But when we mess up, we justify our actions, blaming the situation on circumstance rather than character.
“(People assume that because) we have done the research and we have the knowledge, if (others) don’t agree with me, it’s probably just because they are dumb, or they have not done the research,” Brown said.
Anger is an emotion easier to achieve than empathy. People tend to act out of anger in the moment rather than to pause and think about the reasoning behind why a decision was made. With the emergence of social media, it is easy for people to connect with others with similar views – and to spread hate to those with differing ones.
“Social media, if anything, functions like an amplifier,” Brown said. “If you’re already going to disagree, now it’s easier to find the people you disagree with. I don’t think it’s going to change who you are; it’s just so easy to hide behind a screen.”
Tyla gained a massive amount of her fans from social media, as well as a lot of her backlash. Since many of her American fans do not understand her heritage, their disinterest for the situation came primarily from their lack of understanding. This showcases how a lack of cultural understanding can make it harder to relate, or even care, about someone else’s experience.
“Your culture and background shapes your values, but it (doesn’t have to change) the people you want to surround yourself with,” Davis said. “If two personalities match then they match, they just have a different background. I have friends of different religions and different cultures and we all are understanding of each other.”
Assumptions are natural when presented with little information. When only hearing one perspective on a topic, people tend to believe the person who it is coming from. Since Tyla had not yet addressed the issue with the public before angry fans did, the perspective people began to have on Tyla was a negative one.
When expressing anger on social media, it is easy to believe that one negative comment won’t do too much harm. These comments are often said without regard for the mental well-being of the person they are afflicting.
“I think social media has widened the empathy gap, but I also think that it has lessened it at the same time,” Davis said. “For example, someone will post something really sad and (people) will show up and say, ‘We’re here for you’, but someone (else will) post a picture, and people will say something negative. It just depends on the people that come across (the post).”
In order for people to confront these empathy gaps, society would first have to recognize that there are empathy gaps.
“You can’t really address anything if you don’t know the problems that exist,” Brown said. “I would say awareness is super important. That could only help people communicate better when they are too scared to.”
Throughout the Tyla scandal, as well as many other “controversial” subjects, we have to learn to think before we speak, or rather, learn before we speak. In a world where one post can make or break a reputation, we must begin to empathize with others – especially if they do not share the same perspectives.
