South African singer Tyla won the Best Afrobeat Award for her hit song ‘Water’ at the 2024 MTV VMAs awards on September 11, 2024.
Others in the Best Afrobeats category included Ayra Starr featuring Giveon for "Last Heartbreak Song," Burna Boy for "City Boys," Chris Brown featuring Davido and Lojay for "Sensational," Tems for "Love Me JeJe," and Usher for "Pheelz."
Tyla was among this year's first-time nominees. Aside from Best Afrobeats, she's also up for the coveted Best New Artist award, as well as Best R&B for "Water."
An excited Tyla took to the stage at VMAs to thank her fans and shout out African stars representing the Continent on international levels.
The star who has been riding on the wave of her song ‘Water’ started her speech by asking Lil Nas X to help hold her award. She mentioned that the award was too heavy for her to hold while giving her speech.
She took the opportunity to share how proud she is to represent her home continent, as well as the "tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats."
"I'm not strong enough…The global impact that 'Water' has had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too,”
“This is just so special, but also bittersweet because I know there's a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats,” she said.
"It's a thing, and even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse. It's more than just Afrobeats,”.
She also mentioned that she represents Amapiano; "I come from South Africa. I represent amapiano,
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