Global sensation Tyla is set to perform at next week’s 2024 Billboard Music Awards (BBMA) on December 12 in Los Angeles.
She is also a finalist for eight BBMAs, including Top R&B Artist, Top Afrobeats Artist, Top R&B Female Artist, Top R&B Album for her self-titled debut album TYLA, Top R&B Song and Top Afrobeats Song for three of her songs: Water, Truth or Dare and Jump, a collaboration with Gunna and Skillibeng.
Directed by choreographer Tanisha Scott, the Johannesburg-born star will be performing a two-song amapiano party set from a London pub with Mamelodi-born Optimist Music ZA.
Ironically, Tyla’s debut album was snubbed from the Grammy nominations for 2025, shocking many in the industry
The Billboard Music Awards honour the year’s biggest artists, albums, songs, producers and songwriters in multiple genres, as determined by year-end performance metrics on the Billboard charts.
This year catapulted Tyla to the top spot on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs Chart and Water has remained at No 1 for more than a year (53 weeks) atop the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs charts, extending its record as the longest-running solo and female-led No 1 song in Billboard’s history.
In a previous interview with Billboard, Tyla said her first Grammy Award presented for Best African Music Performance on February 4 this year was one of the biggest highlights of her career. “It’s something a lot of people strive towards and want to win at least once in their lifetime. I’m so blessed to have received one [Grammy] so early in my career.”
Ironically, Tyla’s debut album was snubbed from the Grammy nominations for 2025, shocking many in the industry. Despite the omission, the singer-songwriter has continued to garner awards at every turn, including the BET, MTV Video Music Awards, as well as a triple win at the recent MTV Europe Music Awards.
The 22-year-old “popiano princess” — who performs a hybrid of pop, R&B, Afrobeats and amapiano — has also made history by beating Beyoncé on Spotify, breaking records for the most-streamed album by a black female artist in 2024.
Tyla’s self-titled debut album surpassed 1.565-billion streams, outdoing Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, which had 1.564-billion streams on Spotify. The South African singer’s viral hit Water, including remixes, has surpassed more than 2-billion streams worldwide since its release on July 28 2023.
Tyla has also been nominated for two prizes in the upcoming 2025 MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards in Newcastle, UK, on February 18:
- Best International Act, where she will compete against Asake, Ayra Starr, Beyoncé, GloRilla, Kendrick Lamar, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj and Tems; and
- Best African Music Act, alongside Asake, Ayra Starr, Bnxn & Ruger, King Promise, Odumodublvck, Rema, Shallipopi, Tems and Uncle Waffles, who is also representing South Africa in this category.
Tyla is in South Africa where she held a special performance for Coke Studios in Johannesburg on Wednesday night.
She kicks off her sold-out, two-city South African tour at the Grand Arena, GrandWest in Cape Town on Thursday night and on Saturday at the SunBet Arena, Menlyn, in Pretoria.
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