The spotlight was on Tyla when she won the Best Afrobeats award for her chart-topping hit “Water” at the 2024 MTV VMAs.
Tyla proudly won the inaugural Moon Man award in his second year in the category, competing against artists such as Usher, Chris Brown and Tems.
The 22-year-old pop star seized the moment to celebrate the essence of African music in her acceptance speech.
Highlighting the global impact of “Water” on social media, the singer, whose real name is Tyla Laura Seethal, has stressed that the song has the potential to bring African music into popular culture.
“The global impact that ‘Water’ has had on the world proves that African music can be pop too.”
“This is a very important moment for Africa and African music.”
In her explanation, the singer stressed the importance of recognizing diversity in African music and not just lumping all African artists and Afrobeats into one genre.
“Even though Afrobeats has run everything and opened a lot of doors for us, African music is so diverse, it’s not just Afrobeats,” Tyla added.
Tyla delves into the intricacies of making amapiano music, a uniquely South African genre that combines house, jazz, and nostalgic 90s kwaito sounds. She proudly declares, “I’m from South Africa. I represent amapiano, I represent my culture.”
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The “Jump” singer earned three VMA nominations in 2024, marking her first recognition from MTV amid controversy over the lack of diversity in the music industry. Notably, Tyla won her first Grammy for Best African Music Performance last year, coinciding with the category’s introduction at the awards show.
In a show of solidarity, she acknowledged the other nominees and talented individuals in the Afrobeats category. “Africa to the world,” Tyla said.
Besides her speech, she also had a viral moment at this year’s MTV VMAs.
During Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba’s performance of “Mamushi,” the camera panned to Tyla, and her reaction was priceless in that three-second moment.
In addition to Tyla’s speech, another viral moment happened to her at the recent MTV VMAs. While Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba were performing “Mamushi,” cameras captured Tyla’s brief but priceless reaction.
According to X user @AnitaMaxxWinter, “oh my love Tyla, they’re gonna MEME TF OUTTA YOU. Watch Twitter make her the face of GAG.”
@sathiya0908 added, “I’M LOOKING FOR THIS. I LIKE A GIRL WITH SIDE EYES.”
“I’m dead – at least she served the face,” said @Concrete_Josh.
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Tyla Card, MTV VMAs