South African singer-songwriter Tyla made history at the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMAs), where she clinched the coveted Best Afrobeats, Best R&B, and Best African Act awards on Sunday, November 10.
The 22-year-old stunned the audience, triumphing over fierce competition from Nigerian artistes such as Asake, Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, Rema, and Tems.
Her hit song "Water" released in July 2023 has captivated audiences worldwide and propelled her to stardom.
The MTV EMA winners were chosen by fans' votes on the EMAs website, aside from the Best Video Award winner (Taylor Swift), who was selected by MTV.
Nigerian split votes
Analysts believe this worked in Tyla’s favour as the votes from Nigerian music fans split to cater for the several Nigerian artistes on the nominees list, while South Africans unanimously voted for Tyla.
“Oh my gosh, guys – I can’t believe it. Literally, all the nominees—they literally have taken Afrobeats so far. I’m so honoured to be winning this award,” Tyla said in her acceptance speech.
“I want to thank my team. I want to thank my family, the Tygers, for voting for me. Thank you to God, obviously. Afrobeats has opened so many doors for African music,” she added.
Tyla is the first African artiste to win three awards in one night at the MTV EMAs, where she performed her smash hit “Water” and new track “Push 2 Start.”
International winners
Taylor Swift came out on top at the 2024 MTV EMAs on Sunday, walking away with best artist, best U.S. act, best live act, and best video for “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone).
Hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes was awarded the EMAs global icon award from British rapper Little Simz, telling the crowd that in 34 years of professionally recording, this was his first award from MTV, and it felt incredible.
Voting for the awards opened with Taylor Swift leading the pack with seven nominations, including Best Artist, Best Video, Best Pop, and Biggest Fans.
Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, and Sabrina Carpenter followed closely—each with five nominations across categories such as Best Song, Best Video, and Best Artist.
The MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) is an annual awards ceremony established in 1994 by MTV to celebrate and honour achievements in the music industry, specifically targeting European audiences.
African artistes were first included in the MTV Europe Music Award when MTV Base Africa viewers voted for Best African artist in the 2006 and 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards.
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