Yala means a lot of things — come on, let’s go and hurry up to name but a few. But when you pair it with the musical stylings of Tamta, it most definitely means party.
Cyprus’ Eurovision 2019 star, who still has our love on “Replay”, has collaborated with Israeli singer, dancer and model Stephane Legar for her new track “Yala”. The song comes from her forthcoming EP “Awake”.
With its blaring sax, Middle Eastern sounds and Stephane’s non-stop swagger, the song is a call to get out and live your life — not tomorrow, but right now. As Tamta sings: “We walk like animals, don’t need no money, we worry about nothing else, just wanna party, so come along let’s go..”
The word yala repeats so many times it begins to feel like it’s providing the beat. Never monotonous and instantly catchy, it invites you to bob and shake along.
The song has already been added to 14 New Music Friday playlists — showing just how much love it’s receiving from all over Europe.
Tamta and Stephane Legar – “Yala”
Stephane, who was born in Israel to parents from Togo, delivers his thrusting rap in elegant French. It’s an enticing mix presented with his ever-present fire. At times he shouts out to Tamta, helping build the hype, but this multi-talented star is very much part of the appeal.
The songwriters behind this get-up-and-go track should be very familiar to Eurofans. Dutch songwriters Marcia Sondeijker and Roel Rats previously brought you Kristin Husøy’s “Pray for Me” (MGP 2020) and Catharina Zühlke’s “Eternity” (UMK 2020), among others.
Writing on Instagram, Marcia was full of praise for Georgian-born Tamta. “Couldn’t be more proud of the whole team,” she wrote. “Tamta, thank you so much for believing in us and for killing the vocals. Stephane, OMG your rap is fire.”
What do you think of Tamta’s collab? Are you living for Stephane? And are you hoping to see more rap in Tamta’s music? Shout it out below!
I am greek and I will never forgive ERT for not sending Tamta and Eleni Foureira. They are great artists.
Love the song! Btw does anyone know why Tamta’s Replay had sightly different instrumental on the Grand Final at ESC 2019? At the Semi-Final it was the normal one but at the GF looks like they added strings to the chorus and some parts are different too…
The decision to slightly change the production was taken after the numerous sound issues TeamCy had to face (Despite 5 sound rehearsals, every time Tamta went on stage, nothing was locked as per the previous one) and it was felt that some changes in production were necessary in order to tackle some issues that the sound team couldn’t but also with the TV sound in mind. So Alex P, Kristoffer Fogelmark and Albin Nedler decided to proceed with changes and slightly altered the instrumental before the final. We hope that answers your question
Oh I see! Thank you so much for answering me Team Cyprus!