South African singer, Tyla, has voiced her disagreement with the Western practice of labeling all African music as afrobeats.
During her acceptance speech for the Best Afrobeats Song award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, she expressed that while Afrobeats has been beneficial for African music, it is inaccurate to classify all music from the continent under this genre.
She clarified that she hails from South Africa and represents with the Amapiano genre.
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She said: “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 to 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.”
