The 66th Grammy was held in the United States of America hours ago and interestingly a young South African artiste Tyla beat all the Nigerian nominees to cart away the new category for Afrobeats, ‘Best African Music Performance’.
Tyla Laura Seethal won the much-anticipated category for her song ‘Water’.
The category, ‘Best African Music Performance’ is in its inaugural year and it had Nigerian sensational artiste Asake and his boss and record label owner, Olamide, for Amapiano; Ayra Starr for her song ‘Rush’; Burna Boy for his song ‘City Boys’, and Davido featuring Musa Keys for his hit ‘Unavailable’.
Tyla, who is of Indian and South African descent, eventually won the maiden award category. The 22-year-old, who could not believe her eyes, went up the stage astonished and full of gratitude for creating a record as a singer to win the first category which had established stars from Nigeria and other nations as nominees.
“Water” will appear on Tyla’s self-titled debut album, which will be out on March 22, 2024.
Tyla was born and raised in Johannesburg, she signed with Epic Records in 2021 after the domestic success of her 2019 debut single, “Getting Late” featuring Kooldrink.
The ‘Best African Music Performance’ is one of three brand new categories debuting at the 2024 Grammy Awards, along with ‘Best Alternative Jazz Album’ and ‘Best Pop Dance Recording’.
Burna Boy got four nominations while Davido got three nominations, but they lost all to non-Nigerians. No Grammy is coming home.
Davido was nominated in ‘Best Global Music Performance’, ‘Best Global Music Album’, and ‘Best African Music Performance’ but lost all three on Sunday night.
The Nigerian contingent will have to wait another year to attempt to win these new categories. Already, the African giant, Burna Boy, had won the Grammy for another category, ‘Best World Album’. Also, Wizkid, Davido, and Tems had previously won in a collaborative effort.