South African pop star Tyla has been sued by two United States-based songwriters for not gaining production credit and profits for the Grammy-winning hit “Water.”
The plaintiffs, Olmo Zucca and Jackson LoMastro, allegedly co-produced the chart-topping song during a March 2023 studio session in Los Angeles.
However, the two were deliberately excluded from credit and compensation, thus filed a lawsuit on Friday, July 25 to demand official producer credits, a retroactive and future producer fee, as well as a royalty share of 12.5% each.
They claimed that producer Sammy SoSo misled them into signing an unfavorable royalty agreement and failed to disclose their involvement to the record label.
SoSo allegedly was said to have kept 15% of publishing royalties for himself while limiting Zucca and LoMastro to 10% each, without offering them any producer recognition or payment.
“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 reads.
The pair previously filed a similar complaint in March 2025 but voluntarily withdrew it on July 24 before refiling it the next day with new legal representation.
Zucca and LoMastro further alleged that SoSo had withheld critical information from Epic Records President Ezekiel Lewis who during a meeting with Zucca in May 2024 stated that the label was unaware of any co-producers on Water.
Despite the ongoing legal dispute, Tyla continues to rise in her career- she has recently released a new four-track mixtape titled WWP.
