I watched Tyla perform in Mumbai and felt like a millennial seeing Britney Spears on stage

Tyla Laura Seethal is 23, with Indian, Mauritian, Zulu and Irish ancestry to her name. Kitted out in a bejewelled neon bralette and sequinned booty shorts, the white beads on her poker-straight hair spelling ‘Mumbai’, Tyla showed up and showed out. Spirits were high. And while I was fully present in the moment, having fun and jamming with my girls, I couldn’t help but yearn to watch Britney Spears in concert. I don’t know if it was Tyla’s sculpted waist or her belly-button piercing that brought on this wave of nostalgia, but that night was so Britney-coded. There was the thumping sex appeal of ‘Water’, no doubt, but viewed through the gaze of a Gen Z woman who grew up hearing the #FreeBritney watchcry, it became a reminder of the pop icon’s charisma, stage presence and showmanship, despite the deeply traumatising conservatorship she was put under. Britney envisioned a bigger, bolder playground for princessy dance-pop, a genre that was mocked for playing into the bimbo stereotype. ‘Slave 4 U’ walked so that ‘Push 2 Start’ could run.

Brandishing film cameras and boots for days, the girls who came to watch Tyla perform looked like they had teleported from a Britney Spears concert 20 years ago. These women looked like our mums would’ve looked back then, had they been born in the United States. And while that generation may not have been familiar with the joys of 4K on a cellular device, they surely would’ve felt right at home amongst the glazed midriffs, dazzling dance routines and girls drunk-cheering. These women might be my bosses and aunts now, but they’re still allowed to reap all the benefits under the “I’m just a girl” scheme. That stuff never goes out of style.