South African singer Tyla was named Best New Artist at the BET Awards 2024 on Monday.

Tyla’s debut single, ‘Water’, catapulted her to global fame and earned her several accolades, including the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance in February 2024.

At 22 years old, she became the youngest African artist to receive a Grammy. Her fame didn’t sit right with many terming her as an industry plant .

In the early hours of Monday, she accepted the award for Best New Artist, edging out her fellow African act, Ayra Starr, 41, 4Batz, Bossman Dlow, Friday, October London and Sexyy Red.

In her acceptance speech, Tyla said, “This is such a gift to be here. I want to dedicate this one to Africa. I want to dedicate this to all the African superstars before me that didn’t get these opportunities that I’m getting. This is just amazing. Africa to the world guys.”

She also won the award for ‘Best International Act’ beating Asake, Ayra Starr, Aya Nakamura (France) and other artistes from around the world.

Tyla’s song “Water”, which was released in July 2023, enjoyed huge success, with TikTok users around the world sharing videos of themselves replicating her dance moves using the #WaterChallenge hashtag.

Coupled with an intriguing dance routine- turned dance challenge, the track blends pop, R&B, Afrobeats, and amapiano in its sound, as described by Time Magazine.

The singer supported the American RnB singer Chris Brown as the opening act on his Under The Influence tour in the UK and Europe, and she said that she learnt a lot from the How We Roll singer.

“People don’t know, but I haven’t performed a lot before the tour, so that was like my first actual performance, literally on the O2 stage, opening for the show. I learnt so much, it was amazing,” Tyla said.