Australian rapper and singer Tkay Maidza was still in college when a song she was featured on received radio airplay. She went on tour and never returned to school.
Now, more than a decade later, she finds herself transformed by her path as an artist.
“I was able to think in a way that I hadn’t before,” she says. “I felt like I was discovering myself in a new way. It was really exciting.”
On her sophomore studio album, “Sweet Justice,” released in November, Maidza reintroduces herself; her melodic pop-rap has a new soulful hue. It’s been eight years since her self-titled debut, and although she’s released mixtapes, singles and features since, that time was one of growth and exploration. “I just wanted to focus on becoming better and really understanding what kind of music I want to make and what I want to sound like,” Maidza says.
Her musical shift was intentional, and her collaborators had a big hand in helping her grow. Maidza says the new album’s earthier sound couldn’t have been achieved without opening up her musical process to different voices. “You’re getting different energy from different people. [The music] ends up being a bit more eclectic and takes you to a different perspective,” Maidza says.
“Sweet Justice” boasts some impressive collaborations. The song “Silent Assassin” with fellow Australian Flume is a standout. “See you lacking, I’m quick to move and attack ’em, I’m tactical, no attachments, I’m doin’ it for the passion,” she raps with a calm confidence on a beat infused with old computer-like sounds. The funkier “Our Way” was produced by Kaytranada. Instead of her limber rap flow, Maidza’s singing voice becomes delicate and velvety. “Try something or deuces/ Tired out with excuses/ It ain’t going down if you ain’t all in,” she sings on a bouncy beat.
Performing proved just as central to her music as the act of writing it. The energy she felt onstage during those early years was intoxicating. “I hadn’t experienced that kind of adrenaline,” she says. “It was really addictive. And I just wanted to keep doing it.”
These days, when she’s onstage, it feels like she’s performing for a group of people who could easily be her friends. Her concerts, she says, are “generally like a polite, aggressive party going on. Which is exactly what I would want to happen.”
Her current tour, which includes a stop at the Howard Theatre, marks a pinnacle — the chance to perform her own music, developed with some of her heroes.
“It was like everyone that I was hoping I would be able to work with at the beginning of my career,” she says about these collabs. “It was almost like a full circle moment of life.”
Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $22-$35. thehowardtheatre.com.
