The South African singer continued her sweep of the global award season after fending off competitions from Nigerian superstars to win the best Afrobeats and Best African act at the 2024 VMAs.
Tyla edged Asake, Rema, Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, and Tems for the Best Afrobeats prize. She also beat Ayra Starr, DBN Gogo, Diamond Platnumz, and TitoM & Yuppe to the Best African Act.
During her acceptance speech for the Best Afrobeats Act, Tyla gave a shout-out to Afrobeats for opening doors for African music.
“Thank you to Afrobeats, It has opened many doors for African music,” she said on stage flanked by her younger sister.
Tyla’s latest acceptance speech is considered by some observers to be a correction of her infamous acceptance speech at the 2024 VMAs where she chose to identify as an Amapiano artist after winning the Best Afrobeats with her hit single ‘Water’.
Tyla’s decision to give the VMAs a crash course on distinguishing African mainstream pop music was considered to be in bad taste, especially since her song ‘Water’ was largely an Afrobeats song.
Her decision to give Afrobeats its deserving props at the 2024 EMAs has been applauded as a sober appreciation of what the genre and movement has done for African acts.
