Australian rapper Tkay Maidza completes bold album trilogy after move to US to find her “music world”

Tkay Maidza has revealed why she left Australia with her alternative rap and r&b music in the US after struggling to find her music tribe.

Indie pop singer songwriter and rapper Tkay Maidza has just pulled off one of the most ambitious record campaigns ever attempted by an Australian artist.

The release of Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3 completes a trilogy of records over three years where fans enjoyed a wild ride through hip hop, r&b and innovative pop music as the 24-year-old sought to find where she belonged in the global music world.

As the third instalment drops, Maidza is revelling the creative freedom she is enjoying after moving to Los Angeles in January.

Tkay Maidza has completed her Last Year Was Weird trilogy. Picture: Supplied

“I feel like when I’m here, I’m able to be myself,” she says.

“I just feel like whenever I go out just with my friends when I’m in Australia, for some reason, I feel like I stand out a lot, even if I’m in a corner. And even if I’m like wearing all black, I still feel like I’m doing too much.

“I don’t feel like that at all when I’m here. Coming here … I don’t feel bad for having a purple couch.”

The Zimbabwean-born performer, whose family migrated to Australia when she was five, has been a staple on Australian festival stages and alternative airwaves since releasing her debut single, the irresistible banger Brontosaurus at 17 in 2013.

She has worked with some of the biggest names in pop and hip hop while developing her sound, from Troye Sivan on his Blue Neighbourhood record to legendary American rapper Killer Mike from Run The Jewels.

Maidza has become more assertive in her career in the past year. Picture: Supplied.

But after releasing her debut record Tkay in 2016, Maidza suffered a bit of an identity crisis. The edgy, new wave, genre-busting music she wanted to make would be considered niche in Australia but bold in America.

For the past six years, she has worked with LA-based producer Dan Farber, whose credits include releases by Dizzee Rascal and Lizzo, on a dizzyingly eclectic collection of songs for her Last Year Was Weird trilogy.

From neo-soul reminiscent of British breakthrough artists Arlo Parks and Jorja Smith, the r&b of SZA and through to the cheeky, crunchy hip hop of Megan Thee Stallion, Maidza has been a one-stop shop for any music fan or critic wanting something undeniably fresh on their playlist.

“Something I’ve realised with these Last Year Was Weird projects was that the music world that I’m trying to exist in, you can’t really see it in Australia. And that’s totally fine,” she says.

“But as soon as I came here, I found people who are so totally aligned with me and they have the same path, we just speak the same language.

“And they’re the people I want to impress, my peers. Because now I think people are starting to understand the artists are the ones who really have control over their music. They’re taking that control.”

Maidza is the queen of visuals. Picture: Supplied.

Music wasn’t the only muscle she was sculpting during the Last Year Was Weird project. Ask Maidza about the biggest personal change she has experienced in those formative years between 21 and 24 as she was releasing the records and she immediately replied “assertiveness”.

“I’m really sure now of who I am, who I want to be and where I want to go. And I know what I really don’t like,” she says.

“When you hit 24, 25, you start to like the music that will last forever. The way I listen to music and what I enjoy, it is more timeless.

“And I’ve realised that is a process that takes time. You have to do a lot of living to make quality over quantity.”

Maidza may be the boldest visual artist Australia has produced in the past decade. For Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3, she has produced eye-candy feasts from the Garden of Eden for the single Cashmere to the hip hop hilarity of KIM which featured her impersonating famous women bearing that name including rapper Lil’ Kim and Kim Kardashian.

The cover of Vol. 3 features Maidza as a crossbow-bearing superhero. After binge-watching the X-Men films as inspo for her cover art, she was gobsmacked when the designer suggested the powerful look.

“The designer was like ‘What if I give you a bow and arrow and made you jump?’ And I was like, that’s exactly it. It does look like a superhero, but I feel like that’s the energy I’ve been trying to resolve and channel for this last record because it feels like I’ve reached the end destination that I wanted to reach with this project,” she says.

“And it’s now time to take off with all the lessons that I’ve learned.”

Maidza is also writing for other artists in LA. Picture: Supplied.

While the Australian live music industry continues to struggle with the erratic border closures and mass gathering double standards employed by its governments, Maidza is filling up her gig calendar in the US.

She has sold-out launch shows in New York and Los Angeles, a US tour with Emotional Oranges in October and a slot on the recently announced Day N Vegas festival in Las Vegas in November.

“When I moved over here, we all felt America wasn’t going to open up for gigs until next year, so I thought I would come over here, make music and shoot videos and when the time was right, I could go back to Australia and play shows,” she says.

“But then it came around and there’s so many festivals around and people were asking if I wanted to play them.

“I didn’t think I was ready to go outside but actually I am.”