Tyla Rodrigues Is Holding On Tight In Her Most Confident Era Yet

Tyla Rodrigues

Tyla Rodrigues is having a week - and honestly, it shows. Her brand new EP Hold On Tight is officially out in the world, and it feels like a snapshot of an artist who knows exactly who she is, where she’s headed, and why she’s doing it. Equal parts heart-on-sleeve and quietly confident, the EP arrives just in time for her to take these songs straight to the Howlin’ Country stage next weekend.

“Honestly, I am just, I’m wrapped,” Rodrigues says of releasing the EP. “I have been doing more writing than ever over the past sort of 12 months… this whole kind of new step into myself as an artist, and the era that is all of that is just so exciting to me, and now to be able to share that, I’m honestly just wrapped that it’s out.”

That sense of excitement runs through Hold On Tight, a project shaped by firsts, growth and collaboration. Over the past year, Rodrigues’ found herself mentoring at songwriting camps, attending her first camps both in Brisbane and Nashville, and writing alongside artists she deeply admires. “A lot of this stuff has come from being able to collaborate with some of my favourite songwriters,” she explains, and you can hear that creative spark throughout the EP.

One of the emotional anchors of the release is Wait For Me, a classic leaning country ballad co-written with Blake O’Connor and Sinead Burgess. “They are the best human beings and I absolutely love just getting creative with them,” Rodrigues says. “We got in a room and we spent the first couple hours just chatting… we managed to write a song just through sheer conversation.” 

She adds, “You know, usually you get into a writing room and it’s like, "Okay, yep, we’re writing a song today, so what do we think? What are concepts? What have we got?" Whereas with Blake and Sinead, it was literally like we were conversing and all of a sudden the song wrote itself. I will always cherish it and I absolutely love the time that I get to write with them. It’s a special one, that’s for sure.”

Then there’s Hot and Heavy, arguably the EP’s biggest glow-up story. “We literally wrote it on her fold-out couch,” Rodrigues laughs, recalling the session with Briana Dinsdale. What began as a tongue-in-cheek conversation about Yellowstone’s Beth Dutton quickly turned into something real. “For something that started off as a real joke and then for me now to have this little song baby with Bri, and it be up for a Song of the Year at the Countytown Awards, like it’s just madness to me.”

At its core, Hold On Tight represents Rodrigues pushing herself creatively and letting go of expectations. “My, I guess, brief for this album was to bust out of any barriers creatively that I was putting around myself,” she says. “I just wanted to make good music and something that I really believed in.” 

That clarity didn’t come overnight. “I came into this industry very, very green,” Rodrigues admits. “I’ve done a lot of my maturing and growing through the music.” Now, she says “I know where I stand, I know where I want to be, I know what I want to say in my music.”

Next weekend, those songs will get their biggest test yet as Rodrigues opens the main stage at Howlin’ Country, her first time at the festival and a full circle moment. “Getting the call to be part of it was such a pinch-me moment,” she says. “I’ve watched most of these artists before, and that’s how I do my homework and my learning. So to be on that bill with them is just mind-blowing to me.”

“I think I’m most excited to play Wait For Me, that song… is just a big moment in my set, so I’m so looking forward to playing it at Howlin’... The band and I are excited to bring our A-game for our set.”

As an Australian artist stepping onto an increasingly global stage. “This is probably one of the biggest lineups I’ve been lucky enough to be part of.” Adding that she’s especially excited to come off stage and catch sets from artists she admires. 

Rodrigues joins the likes of Lainey Wilson, Morgan Evans, Flatland Cavalry, Kaitlin Butts and many more at the Newcastle Foreshore for the one day blowout. 

When questioned who she is most excited to see on centre stage at the festival it wasn’t an easy answer  “[Wilson] is just a huge idol of mine, I love how she goes about everything that she does and she just seems like such a great person above it all too. But I have a very, very soft spot in my heart for Flatland Cavalry so I’m very excited to see them.” 

New EP, new era, and one very big weekend ahead - Tyla Rodrigues is holding on tight, and it’s paying off.