Tyla denies being white, says she’s fully black

South African singer Tyla Laura Seethal  has addressed controversies surrounding her racial identity.

The Grammy Award winning “Water” singer debunked reports that she is White, saying she has never denied her blackness.

She wrote:

“Yoh guys, [I have] never denied my blackness, idk where that came from…

“I’m mixed with black/Zulu, irish, Mauritian/Indian and Coloured.

“In South Africa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and other places I would be classified as a black woman.

“Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.

“I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of Southa by anyone not comfortable doing so because I understand the weight of that word outside of SA. But to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a black woman.”

Tyla, 22,  rose to limelight after the  release of her hit song “Water”, which topped the charts in sixteen countries including the United Kingdom and United States.