The South African is the first artist to be honored in the newly introduced category.
South African singer Tyla prevailed at the 66th Grammys with her song “Water,” winning the award for “Best African Music Performance.” Asake & Olamide were also in the category with the track “Amapiano”, “City BoysMiracle” by Burna Boy, “Unavailable” by Davido feat. Musa Keys and Ayra Starr were nominated with the piece “Rush”. Since the category was launched at the awards show for the first time, Tyla is also the first award winner in the category.
Tyla didn’t expect to win
When the winner was announced, Tyla came on stage, visibly surprised, and accepted her trophy from the laudator, producer Jimmy Jam. “What the hell?!” she initially said into the microphone. She then continued: “This is crazy, I never thought I would win a Grammy at 22 years old.” During her acceptance speech, the winner called her family over and told the audience: “I know my mom is here somewhere is inside and crying.”
Tyla’s Grammy speech:
More about the winning track “Water”
The Amapiano-based song “Water” climbed to seventh place on the Billboard Hot 100 last year. This makes Tyla the first South African solo artist to make it into these charts since Hugh Masekala in 1968. At the same time, she is the most successful African solo artist in the history of the “Billboard” charts. The track even landed at number one in the “Billboard US Afrobeats Songs” and “Hip-Hop/R&B Charts”.
Long overdue category
Regarding the Best African Music Performance category, which was introduced this year, Recording Academy President Harvey Mason Jr. said in an interview published on the Grammys website: “I would like to see more music from Africa and other regions of the world. The future of the recording academy will be based on equality. We don’t just honor the music created in our country – we celebrate music from around the world.”