South African singer Tyla took home the award for “Best Afrobeats” at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, using her acceptance speech to highlight the diversity of African music genres and emphasise the importance of recognising these distinctions.
Tyla won the award for Best Afrobeats with her hit song “Water”. The confusion is that Afrobeats originate from West Africa, and Tyla is South African, the birthplace of Amapiano and she is not an Afrobeat artist. In Tyla’s speech,she expressed gratitude but quickly clarified the difference between her music and Afrobeats.
“The global impact that ‘Water’ has had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too. This is so special but bittersweet because I know there is a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats,” said Tyla. “Even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse. It is more than just Afrobeats.”
I come from South Africa. I represent Amapiano. I represent my culture, Tyla continued.
This marked the second year the VMAs featured the “Best Afrobeats” category, which has highlighted the genre’s global influence. Tyla’s win has sparked conversations about the conflation of African musical styles, with some critics questioning the organizers of VMA on giving Tyla award for a category she doesn’t belong to.
While Tyla acknowledged Afrobeats’ role in opening doors for African artists globally, she underscored the need to celebrate the continent’s musical diversity.
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