For the second year running, the Music Television Video Music Awards (MTV VMAs) has a dedicated category for Afrobeats. This year’s nominees include Ayra Starr, for the Giveon-assisted Last Heartbreak song; Burna Boy’s City Boys and, expectedly, Tyla’s Grammy-winning uber-smash, Water. Nigerian producer/singer Pheelz is also nominated for his contribution to Usher’s silky single, Ruin, amongst others.
For this year’s edition of the awards, African international syperstars Burna Boy, Tems, Tyla, Davido Ayra Starr, Lojay, Pheelz earned nominations in the Best Afrobeats category, with Tyla leading the pack, securing three nods in the Best Afrobeats, Best New Artiste and Best R&B categories. Looking to continue her record-breaking streak including her own record to become the only artiste to ever three-feat and win five times in the coveted category, Taylor Swift leads the nominations list with 10 nods – eight for her Fortnight music video for Video of the Year, as well as nominations for Artiste of the Year and Best Pop categories. Swift is closely followed by her Fortnight collaborator Post Malone with nine nominations; Ariana Grande, Eminem and Sabrina Carpenter comes in third lead with six nods each; Megan Thee Stallion and SZA has five nods each, while LISA, Olivia Rodrigo and Teddy Swims has four nominations each.
Speaking on the nominations, Senior Vice President and Co-General Manager Paramount Africa and Lead BET International, Monde Twala, said, “we’re i.