South African musician, Tyla Laura Seethal, popularly known as Tyla, has beaten Burna Boy, Davido, Asake and Olamide to the first-ever Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance.
Tyla Laura Seethal won the much-anticipated category for her song ‘Water’ at the 66th Grammy which was held in the United States of America.
She won the award ahead of Nigerian artist Asake, as well as 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’.
The 22-year-old singer was taken aback upon winning the trophy, which Jimmy Jam awarded during the Grammy’s premiere ceremony, according to the Grammy website.
“What the heck?!” she declared once on stage. “This is crazy, I never thought I’d say I won a Grammy at 22 years old.”
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. Davido was nominated in ‘Best Global Music Performance’, ‘Best Global Music Album’, and ‘Best African Music Performance’ but lost in all three categories on Sunday night.
The Nigerian contingent will have to wait another year to attempt to win these new categories. Already, ‘African Giant’ by Burna Boy had won the Grammy for another category, ‘Best World Album’. Also, Wizkid, Davido, and Tems had previously won in a collaborative effort.
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