Tkay Maidza

One Liner: Zimbabwean/ Australian R&B singer and rapper with some out of the box stuff.

Wikipedia Genre:  Hip hop, synthpop, dance-pop, electronic
Home: Zimbabwe originally, now 

Poster Position: 13
Weekend One Only.

Friday at 3:15 on the T-Mobile Stage.

Thoughts:  Here's a great name - Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza.  She's from Zimbabwe originally, but then grew up in Australia.  She's in Adelaide now, which I love the name of.  Something about Adelaide just sounds lovely.  I wish Courtney Barnett would do a song about being bummed out in Adelaide.  She has supported Charlie XCX on tour.  She sounds kind of like Nicki Minaj at times, and at other times I think of M.I.A., and at other times its more of a straight R&B singer.  Kind of all over.

Two albums - 2016's Tkay and 2018's Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1.  But then she has some EPs that are pretty much album length, like 2020's Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2 and 2021's Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3.  Like, that last one is eight songs long.  Isn't that enough to be considered an album?  An EP seems like it should be less than five songs.  Whatever.

The music can be kind of cool - woozy rap like "Syrup" or R&B like "So Cold."  Not a ton of streams in general - the top track is "24k" with 5.7 million on Spotify.  This is from the 2020 EP.

See, like that one is it's own animal.  Almost EDM, with a little Nicki style rapping, and then some breathy R&B singing on the hook.  I've said this before on another recent review, but it sure seems like we are overloaded on this style of music this year.  The up-and-coming female R&B singer who raps sometimes is heavily represented on the poster this year.  

Oh yes, that is a "Where is My Mind Cover."  Aiming for that ever elusive R&B fan who also likes either mid-90's alternative or Fight Club.  Also, the "Carry On" track is cool because of Killer Mike's verse.  I just dig his flow so much.  Her other big streamer in her top ten (just over 5 million) is also from that Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2, so I'll give you an older one to measure what she used to sound like.  This is "Simulation," from 2016's Tkay, with 5.2 million streams.

A little Caribbean flair going on in there.  Catchy and fun.  I like it.  She's got a voice that doesn't really sound like anyone else I can think of.  I wonder if she is using effects on it in that track?

She's sufficiently original for me to be more interested than most of the R&B ladies who are coming here - she's a pretty good rapper, has a good voice, and doesn't seem interested in just staying in one lane.  But, of the choices at that hour, I'd probably choose BIA.