After a meteoric run in recent months, Tyla is now the first artist to win the Recording Academy’s new Best African Music Performance category for her viral hit, “Water.”
In her speech, the 22-year-old exclaimed, “What the heck?!,” as she took the stage. “I never thought I’d say I won a Grammy at 22 […] Last year, God decided to change my whole life, so thank you so much to God.” Backstage, she expounded on her excitement to a room full of eager press.
“Everything that’s been happening has shocked me, honestly,” she explained to Hollywood Unlocked. “I’ve always dreamt of this. I’ve had a feeling I feel like God called me to do this so that piece is in me. But the fact that all of this is happening: Grammy nomination, Billboard Hot 100, it just keeps piling on and I don’t even know what to do with my life anymore. I’m just excited.”
The South African superstar is set to release her debut album next month. She told TV One that it’s her first full-length project that has been over two years in the making.
“I’m super proud of it,” she noted. “I’ve been perfecting my sound—afrobeats, amapiano but with pop and R&B.” In terms of her sound—specifically afrobeats—hitting the mainstream, Tyla declared, “Afrobeats has already started booming all over the world, which I’m so happy about. It’s about time and I just feel like this is going to open so many more doors for us back home and introduce our music and our culture to so many more people which we’ve been wanting.”
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Tyla announced her self-titled debut back in December and released three new singles —”Truth Or Dare,” “On and On,” and “Butterflies”— from the highly-anticipated LP.
She teased that the album is a “literal introduction” to herself, her sound, and will be full of bangers—similar to “Water” and “even better ones.”
Watch the recently-released visual to “Truth Or Dare” below.
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