Tyla will headline the Global Citizen Festival 2025 in New York on Saturday with world-class artists Rosé of BlackPink, Cardi B, Shakira, Mariah TheScientist, Camilo, Elyanna and others.
While Tyla has been confirmed for some time, Cardi B replacing The Weeknd and Rosé’s appearance have just been announced.
The 23-year-old multi-award winning megastar will perform for the first time at the event, as well as representing Africa, with Nigerian artist Ayra Starr.
The annual festival will return to Central Park’s Great Lawn — bringing together superstars with global changemakers for a day of live performances mixed with activism, with the mission to eradicate extreme poverty.
Tickets to the live concert in New York were available free of charge but have been distributed.
A limited number of VIP tickets on Ticketmaster were listed at $2,500 (R43,317) per person on Thursday morning.
The event will be live-streamed worldwide on YouTube, Apple Music, Apple TV and www.globalcitizen.watch, among other platforms.
Tyla and Cardi B’s latest track together, Nice Guy, will be among the highly anticipated performances of the evening.
The song is #1 on iTunes South Africa and Tyla’s third #1 hit.
The Johannesburg-born Water singer surpassed 3bn streams on Spotify across all her credits on the platform by the middle of this month — making her the first South African soloist and the third female artist from Africa to reach this level of success on Spotify.
Tyla took to X to celebrate the milestone, posting photos with her sister Sydney Seethal, 21.
Cardi B will replace The Weeknd, who withdrew from the festival for personal reasons.
“We are grateful to Cardi B, who has joined the Global Citizen Festival line-up,” said Global Citizen co-founder and CEO Hugh Evans. “She’s an outstanding performer who will light up Central Park in spectacular fashion. We wish The Weeknd support and thank him and his fans for taking action with us to help end extreme poverty.”
K-Pop superstar Rosé of BlackPink was announced on Wednesday to make a special appearance at the festival.
The festival will be hosted by Global Citizen ambassador Hugh Jackman and co-hosts Bill Nye, Adam Lambert, Danai Gurira and Liza Koshy.
The 2025 Global Citizen Festival campaign is mobilising $200m (R3.46bn) to protect 30,000,000ha of the Amazon rainforest, expanding access to quality education and football for 30,000 children around the world, and providing energy access for one million people in Africa.
TimesLIVE
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