South African singer, Tyla has faulted the classification of all African music as afrobeats.
Speaking at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, while accepting her award for Best Afrobeats Song at the event wedsday night, she argued that Afrobeats has opened many doors for African music but it is wrong to group all African artists under the genre.
She said she represented the Amapiano genre because she is from South Africa and emphasized that African music can be both pop and Afrobeats.
The one time Grammy award winner acknowledged the tendency to group all African artists under Afrobeats but that African music is diverse and more than just Afrobeats.
In her words: “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 Lojay”.
Written by Cheta Enyoghasi
