South African musician Tyla Laura Seethal, famously known as Tyla, has won the ‘Best African Music Performance’ category at the 2024 Grammys, claiming the top global prize over her Nigerian counterparts Asake, Olamide, Davido and Ayra Starr. Davido alone had nominations across three categories, but failed to clinch any.

The 22-year-old singer said in her speech at the awards ceremony that she never thought she’d say she won the highly-coveted honour at 22.

“Last year God decided to change my whole life,” she said.

Her hit song ‘Water’ sparked a viral dance upon its 2023 release and many people across the world enjoyed the song and the dance challenge. 

Tyla’s victory could suggest that the award judges this year appeared to give less weight to Afrobeats, unlike in recent year in which artists from the genre dominated.

Like Davido, Burna Boy lost in all four categories in which he was nominated. He lost the ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ for his song ‘City Boys’, featuring J. Cole, to Lil Durk, ‘All My Life’. He also lost ‘Best Global Music Performance’ for his song ‘Alone’ to Belaflex for his song ‘Pashto’. He lost Best African Music Performance for his song ‘City Boys’ to Tyla’s ‘Water’.

Burna Boy, a Grammys 2021 winner, failed to win his nomination in ‘Best Global Music Album’ category with ‘I Told them’, losing it to ‘This Moment’ by Shakti.

Davido’s global hit ‘Unavailable’ lost its three nominations in ‘Best African Performance’, ‘Best Global Album Award’, and ‘Best Global Music Performance’ categories to Tyla, Shakti and Pashto, respectively.