Tyla’s Historic VMA Win (& Great Speech!) Shouldn’t Be Overshadowed By “Weird” Halle Bailey Controversy

Tyla etched her name in history as the first South African artist to win a VMA at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday. For her first VMA achievement, she beat some of African music’s biggest heavy hitters (Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Davido, Lojay, Pheelz, and Tems) in the Best Afrobeats category with her single, “Water.” At this point, winning trophies has become second nature to the breakout star. She won the 2024 BET Award for Best New Artist in June. Before that, she was the first recipient of the inaugural Best African Music Performance Grammy Award. But this win, in particular, encouraged the artist to get a few things off her chest.

While the diversity in award categories is a sign of progress, it’s obvious that there is still work to be done when handpicking nominees. Before Tyla was announced as last night’s winner, a couple of the nominees featured in the Best Afrobeats category were confusing to say the least. Chris Brown secured a spot on the nominee list for his single “Sensational.” While the catchy tune did feature Nigerian stars Davido and Lojay, Brown isn’t an Afrobeats artist. 

The same goes for Usher. The R&B superstar was nominated for his song “Ruin” with Lagos musician Pheelz. Usher also isn’t an Afrobeats artist. Both artists created an Afrobeats song, but that’s not their specialty. Just like Afrobeats has grown among music listeners, R&B and pop stars have also been inspired by the popular genre. While that inspiration has led them to create Afrobeats singles, that shouldn’t label them as Afrobeats artists because, quite frankly, they’re not.   

As Tyla gracefully accepted the VMA Moonman trophy, she used her acceptance speech to speak up about the inaccuracies of broadly categorizing African music. “The global impact that ‘Water’ has had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too,” Tyla said onstage. “This is just so special, but also bittersweet. I know there’s a tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats. It’s a thing. And even though Afrobeats has run things and 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 represent my culture.”

Tyla raised a legitimate concern about the oversimplification of African music. Any time an African musician makes headway onto the music scene, they are often classified as an Afrobeats artist simply because they're African. Reducing African artists to only Afrobeats because of their ethnicity is narrow-minded and completely disregards the diversity of the various African musical styles that these musicians represent and explore through their artistry. 

In 2023, Tyla's "Water" became viral as fans famously poured water down their backs trying to  imitate the South African dance style, Bacardi. "Water" was Tyla's lead single before releasing her debut self-titled album in 2024, which introduced supporters to her other popular tracks like "Jump," "Truth or Dare," and "ART." While Afrobeats and amapiano  are African music genres, there are distinctions between the two. Amapiano is known for its piano melodies, percussions, and house music elements that create a more laid-back vibe than Afrobeats. 

Tyla considers herself an amapiano artist, and "Water" reflects that style. That's why her nomination caused a stir of confusion and led Tyla to address the distinction during her acceptance speech. Regardless, amapiano and Afrobeats deserve the spotlight. And artists like Tyla are helping different styles of African music get the shine they deserve. 

The VMAs made history in 2023 after creating the Best Afrobeats category to highlight the musical achievements of African music transcending into the mainstream space. Last year's nominees included Rema, Asake, Libianca, Fireboy DML, Davido, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr, and Musa Keys. Last year, Rema took home the inaugural award for her single "Calm Down," which featured Selena Gomez. Within recent years, the popularity of afrobeats has grown globally, making it one of the fastest-growing genres among U.S. listeners. So, it makes sense for award shows to create categories for African music to be spotlighted. But, like any new addition, mistakes will be made. And after last night’s ceremony, MTV still needs to resolve a few flaws. 

While Tyla needed to make that distinction between Afrobeats and amapiano onstage, her message became lost amid award show drama. After Halle Bailey and Lil Nas X presented the rising star with the award, she asked the "Old Town Road" rapper to hold the heavy trophy while she gave her acceptance speech. The brief interaction between her and the presenters caused mass confusion as viewers couldn't determine who she was asking for help.

Like wildfire, people speculated that she asked Bailey to hold her trophy. So when "The Little Mermaid" actress didn't proceed to help her, it appeared shady. But before rumors or theories could manifest, Tyla quickly took to Twitter after the show ended to stop the chatter.

Tyla wrote, "Y'all make everything weird. I was not asking my girl Halle. We just girls, STFU I WON A VMA." Bailey responded to the post by quoting the Tweet. "Exactly. Love you babes congrats," Bailey said.

The time viewers wasted by overreacting and blowing an innocent exchange out of proportion is not surprising. However, it’s disappointing that people are choosing to focus on that insignificant moment instead of the important message in Tyla’s speech. It’s unfair to reduce the variations of African music to one genre. It is rich in diverse music styles, sounds, and beats that represent different cultures found throughout the continent. Grouping them under the same umbrella is a disadvantage to these artists and limits exposing listeners to other types of African music to the world. Afrobeats and amapiano are just two out of the several (soukous, juju, mbalax, and gnawa just to name a few) that are just as deserving to be recognized on a global scale.