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Tyla won the Afrobeats Artist of the Year award despite being nominated alongside notable Afrobeats artists, including Rema and Wizkid.
Tyla won Afrobeats Artist of the year at the American Music Awards. Picture: tyla/Instagram
In typical American style, the American Music Awards (AMA) didn’t heed Tyla’s call to not box all Africans in one group at international music awards.
South Africa’s Tyla won the Afrobeats Artist of the Year at the recent AMAs. Tyla won despite being nominated alongside Afrobeats artists like Rema, Wizkid and Asake.
R&B singer Tems was the other nominee; however, at least Tems’ music has influences of Afrobeats.
Of all the nominated artists, Tyla is the one artist whose music isn’t Afrobeats or has strong influences of the Nigerian genre.
The 51st Annual American Music Awards were held at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Monday. Jennifer Lopez hosted the show for the second time, following the 2015 ceremony.
ALSO READ: Tyla calls out international awards after winning Afrobeats gong at MTV VMAs [VIDEO]
Tyla speaking out
In September of last year, Tyla won an Afrobeats award at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) and spoke about how bittersweet it was for her.
“This is just so special but also bittersweet because I know there’s a tendency to group all Africans under Afrobeats,” Tyla said in her acceptance speech.
“Even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse… more than just Afrobeats.”
A HUGE moment for Africa and African Music 🌍 @Tyllaaaaaaa takes home the Best Afrobeats award for “Water” 🏆 #VMAs pic.twitter.com/5MYNt0QJiB
— MTVAfrica (@MTVAfrica) September 12, 2024
Afrobeats is a Nigerian genre that blends influences from other Nigerian styles, including Fuji—a Yorùbá traditional music rooted in percussion and choral call-and-response.
Afrobeats is also a cocktail of juju, jazz, highlife, funk and soul.
The South African singer, whose real name is Tyla Laura Seethal, used the opportunity at the VMAs to educate its international audience on the disparities of African music.
“I come from South Africa, I represent Amapiano, I represent my culture… I just want to shout-out all the Afrobeats artists in this category with me,” said Tyla, paying homage to some of the Nigerian artists she was nominated alongside.
“This is such a big moment for Africa, African music. Like, guys, the global impact that Water has had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too,” said Tyla.
ALSO READ: Tyla thrilled to host Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2025
American Music Awards
Kendrick Lamar was the most nominated artist at this year’s AMAs with 10 nods, but only took home the award for favourite hip-hop song, Not Like Us.
Lamar was also nominated in other big categories, including Artist of the Year and Song of the Year, which ultimately went to Billie Eilish.
Eilish won a total of seven awards on the night.
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