South African singer, Tyla
A legal battle over authorship and compensation has erupted around Tyla’s breakthrough single, “Water,” which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023 and earned a Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance.
Two U.S.-based songwriters have filed a new lawsuit against the 23-year-old South African pop sensation, claiming they were wrongfully excluded from production credit and profits for the global hit song.
Billboard Pro reported that the new complaint was filed on Friday, July 25, against Tyla (Tyla Seethal), British producer Sammy SoSo (Samuel Awuku), and Sony Music Entertainment, the parent business of Tyla’s label Epic Records, by songwriters Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro.
The plaintiffs claim that although they co-produced the song in a March 2023 session in Los Angeles, they were intentionally left out of the production credits and earnings.
Zucca and LoMastro are now requesting official producer credits for “Water,” a producer fee—the standard payment given to top-line producers on commercial releases—and a royalty increase to 12.5% each, both retroactively and in the future.
According to the complaint, “Water” has already made over $10 million and may eventually reach over $50 million, based on industry patterns and the song’s continued success.
“Because defendants have refused to recognize plaintiffs’ status as topline producers of the song, and have failed to pay plaintiffs all of the royalties they are owed from the song, plaintiffs have each suffered injury in fact,” the lawsuit states.
But this is not the first lawsuit the pair has brought a complaint concerning “Water.”
A similar complaint was filed earlier this year, in March 2025, but it was voluntarily dismissed on July 24, before being refiled the following day with new legal representation.
Zucca and LoMastro claim to have worked with both SoSo and fellow producer Rayo (Rayan El-Hussein Goufar) at the 2023 studio session. Officially, they are listed as co-writers on the last song, but the two claim that SoSo signed an exclusive contract with Tyla and claimed sole production credit, all the while tricking them into signing what they describe as an unjust and misleading royalty arrangement.
They claim that the contract limited their publication royalties to 10% each, compared to 15% for SoSo, and excluded them totally from producer recognition and remuneration.
“Although plaintiffs tried for months to resolve the matter with Awuku, Awuku refused to cooperate and, instead, engaged in a pattern of deception designed to conceal his nefarious actions,” per the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Zucca and Epic Records President Ezekiel Lewis met in May 2024, and Lewis claimed that SoSo had not disclosed the involvement of any co-producers to the label.
Apart from the strain of court cases, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has just made a comeback with her new mixtape since her historic debut.
According to RTT News, the new song bundle, WWP, includes the new singles “BLISS” and “IS IT” as well as other brand-new music. The four-track project was produced by P. Priime and Sammy Soso, with WizKid making a guest appearance on “DYNAMITE.”
Furthermore, Tyla’s popular singles “PUSH 2 START” and “JUMP” from her gold-certified deluxe album TYLA+ have earned an RIAA certification.
She is also scheduled to perform at the prestigious Global Citizen Festival in New York this September.
