Though South African singer and songwriter Tyla is young in the music industry, she is not new to international accolades. Her breakthrough song ‘Water’ has done most of the magic for her.

After winning a Grammy, two BET Awards and an MTV Video Music Award, Tyla has added three EMAs to her Awards collection. 

On the 10th of November 2024 in Manchester, the Grammy-award-winning musician tripled her wins by bagging Best African Act, Best Afrobeats and Best R&B. She beats Nigerian superstars Asake, Ayra Starr, Rema, Burna Boy and Tems to emerge victorious in the Best Afrobeats category.

After a tough battle with iconic American singer Usher, SZA, and Kehlani, Tyla received the prize for Best R&B.

Delivering a heartwarming acceptance speech, the ‘Water’ hitmaker said despite her music being versatile, R&B is one of her biggest influences. She tipped late American singer Aaliyah as an inspiration, adding that her dress for the night was a recreation of one of the late singer’s red carpet looks.

“I know its just so hard to categorize my music like I literally mix so many different genres into one but R&B is a huge influence in my music, especially Aaliyah she’s like one of my idols so the fact that I’m even winning this in her dress is like….. oh my word,” Tyla stated with tears of joy in her eyes.

Accepting the Best Afrobeats prize, Tyla was joined on stage by her sister Sydney Seethal. They shared an emotional moment, where Sydney expressed how proud she is of her musician sister.

The singer also showed gratitude to her Tygers fan base, thanking them for their continuous support.

“I’m so honored to be winning this award, it’s insane. But I just wanna thank my team, I wanna thank my family, the tigers for voting for me, thank you so much! Thank you to God obviously and thank you to Afrobeats. Afrobeats has opened so many doors for African music so thank you so much to Afrobeats.”, she said