Earlier this year, the Grammy Awards announced the introduction of a brand-new category celebrating the very best of African music: Best African Music Performance. As the organisation announced its 2024 nominees, two South African stars found themselves first-time nominees as Tyla’s ‘Water’ and Musa Keys’ collaboration with Davido on ‘Unavailable’ scored nods.
These two songs were nominated alongside Asake & Olamide’s ‘Amapiano’, Ayra Starr’s ‘Rush’ and Burna Boy’s ‘City Boys’.
Tyla’s ‘Water’ has made significant strides since its first inception. The viral hit song Water by Tyla debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, after trending for several weeks on TikTok. ‘Water’ made history as the first solo song by a South African musician to appear on the chart since jazz legend Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the Grass 55 years ago.
‘Water’ became No. 1 on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart, ending the 58-week run of Rema & Selena Gomez’s song “Calm Down.”
With the growing international traction of ‘Water’ Tyla first South African to gain 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify according to the African folder. With the introduction of its inaugural category for Best African Music Performance there is stiff competition between Tyla and Burna Boy, Davido, Olamide and many others.
Meanwhile, Davido scored three nods this year. His fourth studio album ‘Timeless’ was nominated in the Best Global Music Album category, while ‘Unavailable’ with South African sensation Musa Keys and ‘Feel’ were nominated for Best African Music Performance and Best Global Music Performance, respectively.
Finally, South African comedian Trevor Noah also scored a Grammy nomination for ‘ I Wish You Would’. This is the second time the comedian has been nominated in this category.
As South African superstars continue to make the country proud on a global stage, we wish them all the best as they embark on this exciting journey in their careers! Let’s bring an award (or two, or three) home!
