Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper.
Biography
Takudzwa Victoria Rosa Maidza was born in Zimbabwe. Her mother and father are metallurgists. In 2001, her family moved to Australia when she was five years old. They lived in Perth and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and in Whyalla in South Australia before relocating to Adelaide in 2010. She graduated from St Michael's College at age 16 and studied architecture at the University of South Australia before becoming a full-time musician. Maidza took part in Adelaide's Northern Sound System artist development program and released her debut single, "Brontosaurus", at age 17 with producer BadCop. She has since released an EP, Switch Tape, featuring collaborations with Night Slugs' Bok Bok and producer SBTRKT. Its single, "Switch Lanes", was voted into the 2014 Triple J Hottest 100 at number 100. Maidza had a strong number 66 in the 2015 countdown with her 2015 single "MOB". MOB was Maidza's first song to be played on Australian commercial radio. Maidza has played Splendour in the Grass and the CMJ Music Marathon in 2014 and replaced Lykke Li at the 2015 St Jerome's Laneway Festival. She performed at the Triple J "Beat the Drum" concert in 2015 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the radio station, both as a solo artist and with many other Australian guest rappers on an extended version of Hilltop Hoods' "Cosby Sweater". Maidza played most of the Australian major festivals in 2015 including Grooving the Moo, Falls Festival, Meredith Festival and a cameo at Stereosonic with WhatSoNot. Maidza was featured in Australian Vogue magazine in July 2015 and the French magazine Konbini. After featuring on Troye Sivan's debut albumBlue Neighbourhood, Maidza supported Sivan in London, Paris and Berlin as well as a guest appearance in Los Angeles. Earlier Maidza had supported Charli XCX on her Australian tour as well as British band Years & Years in the UK. In November 2015 Tkay featured in an episode of Le Petit Journal in her debut French TV appearance. A scheduled appearance at the French festival La Maroquinerie in November 2015 was cancelled. She later appeared on American radio as part of the second episode of Skrillex's OWSLA Radio on 13 February 2016. On 30 August, Tkay premiered her single "Carry On", featuring guest vocals from US rapper Killer Mike. The track is the first single from her debut album simply titled Tkay, which was released on 28 October 2016. In October 2019, praised Maidza for "breathing new life into the lungs of Australian hip-hop", placing her at no.8 on their list of "The 15 Australian female artistschanging the game right now". In May 2020, Tkay announced she had signed with acclaimed British independent label4AD and released her new single 'Shook' with praise from NME and Rolling Stone.
