Grammy-award-winner Tyla. Picture: Instagram
South African- born Grammy award winner, Tyla clinched victory at the 66th Grammy Awards held on Sunday, February 4.
Tyla beat African music giants, Burna Boy, Davido and Ayra Starr among others, in the newly formed category, Best African Music Performance for her viral hit, “Water”.
She is also the youngest music artist in SA to win the silverware.
The award-winning musician, whose real name is Tyla Laura Seethal, took to Instagram to share how honoured she is to receive the award. She thanked her team and fans, known as the “Tygers”.
“I am so honoured to be the first winner of a Grammy under this newly introduced category… we made history!,” she wrote.
She added: “I wanna say some more thank you’s to all my Tygers, my choreographer @litchi_hov, My creative director @thegmni, The Fantastic 4 @sammy_soso @bhxbelievve @mochabands @aripensmith, And my label @epicrecords.”
The songstress also congratulated all the other Grammy winners and nominees.
She ended her post with: “Africa to the world RRRrrrrr 🐅🤍.”
The pop-piano star was catapulted to fame last year, after her dance for her song, “Water” went viral on TikTok.
Speaking backstage at the Grammy Awards, the 22-year old revealed that she will be dropping her debut album in March.
“I’ve never dropped a project before. I’ve been working on it for over two years now so I am super proud of it. I’ve been perfecting my sound, being African, Afrobeats with amapiano, but with pop and R&B.
“My album is literally an introduction of myself and my sound. There’s a lot of bangers on there just like ‘Water’ and even better ones. I’m looking forward to this year.”
The internationally renowned musician added that with the rise of Afrobeats, she hopes it opens doors for other artists in South Africa.
“Afrobeats has already started booming all over the world, which I’m so happy about it, it’s about time. I feel like this is going to open so many more doors for us back home, and introduce our music and culture to people, which we’ve been wanting.
“I thank the Recording Academy for giving us that platform.”
The global superstar added that all the success that’s come to her, has been a shock.
“I’ve always dreamt of this. I’ve had a feeling. I feel like God called me to do this, so that peace is in me, but the fact that all of this is happening, Grammy nomination, Billboard Hot 100, like it just keeps piling on and I don’t even know what to do with my life anymore. I’m just excited really.”
The Grammy win is just the start for Tyla’s career. The “Truth or Dare” hitmaker will be touring the UK, Europe and North America from March, after her album drops.
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