A doctored Times Square billboard and a viral X post convinced thousands that Tyla had ditched Epic Records for Jay-Z's Roc Nation.
South African singer songwriter Tyla attends Billboard Women in Music at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on 29 April 2026. Picture: Valerie Macon/AFP.
South African pop star Tyla has personally shut down a viral rumour claiming she had signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, addressing the speculation directly on her Instagram Stories as she gears up for the release of her sophomore album, APOP*, on 24 July.
“I’m not signed to Roc Nation,” Tyla wrote in a post shared on her Instagram Stories and later her feed, putting an abrupt end to days of online speculation about her professional future.
How the rumour started
The claims began circulating on 30 June 2026, with several online publications and social media pages alleging that the 24-year-old singer had chosen not to renew her contract with Epic Records after it allegedly expired.
The story exploded after an account on X shared a post claiming that Roc Nation had officially welcomed Tyla to its roster, complete with talk of a lucrative multi-million-dollar agreement and a personal call from Jay-Z himself.
Fuelling the frenzy was a viral image of what appeared to be a digital billboard in New York’s Times Square, featuring the Roc Nation triangle hand gesture alongside the words “Roc Nation welcomes Tyla to the family”.
The image was, in fact, doctored from Roc Nation’s own recent activations marking the 30th anniversary of Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt album, which had genuinely included Times Square billboards, pop-ups and merchandise drops in late June.
The fabricated post spread rapidly across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube Shorts – and, notably, was picked up and reported as a confirmed fact by a number of entertainment outlets without independent verification.
As it stood, Tyla remained publicly recognised as an Epic Records artist under her long-standing joint venture with FAX Records, co-managed by We Make Music and the Africa Creative Agency, alongside a strategic partnership with HYBE.
Why it felt believable
The rumour gained extra traction because it wasn’t entirely far-fetched on paper. Roc Nation has been aggressively expanding its African footprint, and in 2025 Nigerian singer Ayra Starr signed a major international management deal with the label – while remaining with Mavin Records for her recording career.
That real connection made a Tyla signing feel like a plausible “next step” for the label, and gave the fake billboard image a veneer of credibility it didn’t deserve.
It also reignited some of the online rivalry between Tyla’s and Ayra Starr’s fanbases, with the rumour framed by some as Tyla “joining their camp” – feeding into the wider comparisons South African and Nigerian Afrobeats and Amapiano fans regularly draw between the two rising stars’ chart positions, awards and global breakout narratives.
Tyla moves the conversation to her music
By addressing the rumour directly and briefly, Tyla was able to pivot attention back to her upcoming release. Fans have already had a taste of the new era through recently released single Is It Love and She Did It Again in collaboration with Swedish pop star Zara Larsson, with APOP* expected to build on the Amapiano, Afropop, R&B and pop fusion that defined her Grammy-winning self-titled debut.
