‘I represent Amapiano’ – Tyla kicks after winning MTV VMAs in Afrobeats category

By Taiwo Okanlawon

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Tyla Laura Seethal, popularly known as Tyla, has said she represents Amapiano and not Afrobeats.

The South African singer spoke out against the categorisation of all African music as afrobeats by the West, while accepting her award for Best Afrobeats Song at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday night.

Tyla beat Burna Boy, Davido, Lojay, Tems, Ayra Starr, and Pheelz were nominated under the same category.

Tyla was also nominated for two other categories ‘Best New Artiste’ and ‘Best RnB’ but lost in both.

In her reaction, Tyla, said Afrobeats has opened a lot of doors for African music but it was wrong to categorise every music from the continent under the genre.

She explained that she is from South Africa and represents the Amapiano genre.

She said: “The impact that ‘Water’ has had on the world proves that African music can be pop music, too. This is so special but also bittersweet. Because I know there’s a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats.

“Even though Afrobeats has run things and has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse. It’s more than just Afrobeats.

“I come from South Africa, I represent Amapiano. I present my culture. And I just want to shout out all the Afrobeats artists in this category with me. Shout out to all the Afrobeats artistes Tems, Ayra Starr, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Rema and

Tyla released her highly anticipated self-titled debut album, “Tyla” on March 22, 2023.

The album is supported by singles: “Water”, “On and On”, “Truth or Dare” and “Art”, in addition to the promotional single “Butterflies”and the 2022 stand-alone single “To Last”.

Tyla’s global hit single “Water”, opened the floodgates for her career, leading to a viral dance challenge, almost 500 million streams on Spotify so far and a Grammy win.