Tyla gives credit to Afrobeats for opening doors for African Music

The South African singer continued her sweep of the global award season after fending off competitions from Nigerian superstars to win the best Afrobeats and Best African act at the 2024 VMAs.

Tyla edged Asake, Rema, Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, and Tems for the Best Afrobeats prize. She also beat Ayra Starr, DBN Gogo, Diamond Platnumz, and TitoM & Yuppe to the Best African Act. 

During her acceptance speech for the Best Afrobeats Act, Tyla gave a shout-out to Afrobeats for opening doors for African music.

"Thank you to Afrobeats, It has opened many doors for African music," she said on stage flanked by her younger sister.

Tyla's latest acceptance speech is considered by some observers to be a correction of her infamous acceptance speech at the 2024 VMAs where she chose to identify as an Amapiano artist after winning the Best Afrobeats with her hit single 'Water'.

Tyla's decision to give the VMAs a crash course on distinguishing African mainstream pop music was considered to be in bad taste, especially since her song 'Water' was largely an Afrobeats song.

Her decision to give Afrobeats its deserving props at the 2024 EMAs has been applauded as a sober appreciation of what the genre and movement has done for African acts.

See the full winners list at the 2024 EMAs below.

BEST SONG

Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso

BEST VIDEO

Taylor Swift ft. Post Malone – Fortnight

BEST ARTIST

Taylor Swift

BEST COLLABORATION

LISA ft. Rosalía – NEW WOMAN

BEST NEW

Benson Boone

BEST POP

Ariana Grande

BEST AFROBEATS

Tyla

BEST ROCK

Liam Gallagher

BEST LATIN

Peso Pluma

BEST K-POP

Jimin

BEST ALTERNATIVE

Imagine Dragons

BEST ELECTRONIC

Calvin Harris

BEST HIP-HOP

Eminem

BEST R&B

Tyla

BEST LIVE

Taylor Swift

BEST PUSH

LE SSERAFIM

BIGGEST FANS

LISA

BEST AFRICAN ACT

Tyla

BEST ASIA ACT

BINI

BEST AUSTRALIAN ACT

Sia

BEST AUSTRIAN ACT

RAF Camora

BEST BRAZILIAN ACT

Pabllo Vittar

BEST CANADIAN ACT

Shawn Mendes

BEST CARIBBEAN ACT

Young Miko

BEST DUTCH ACT

Roxy Dekker

BEST FRENCH ACT

Pierre Garnier

BEST GERMAN ACT

AYLIVA

BEST INDIA ACT

Mali

BEST ISRAELI ACT

Noa Kirel

BEST ITALIAN ACT

Annalisa

BEST LAT AM CENTRAL ACT

Manuel Turizo

BEST LAT AM NORTH ACT

YeriMua

BEST LAT AM SOUTH ACT

Dillom

BEST NORDIC ACT

Zara Larsson

BEST POLISH ACT

Daria Zawiałow

BEST PORTUGUESE ACT

Bárbara Bandeira

BEST SPANISH ACT

Lola Indigo

BEST SWISS ACT

Nemo

BEST U.K. & IRELAND ACT

RAYE

BEST U.S. ACT

Taylor Swift