Tyla Asks Halle Bailey and Lil Nas X to Hold Her VMA in Hilarious Acceptance Speech Moment

The spotlight shone brightly on Tyla as she clinched the Best Afrobeats award for her chart-topping hit "Water" at the 2024 MTV VMAs.

Tyla proudly claimed her first Moon Man in its second year as a category, competing with artists like Usher, Chris Brown, and Tems.

But the acceptance speech also went viral when she asked presenters Halle Bailey and Lil Nas X to hold her heavy award for her as they awkwardly looked on.

Later, Tyla took to X to clear up the confusion.

"Y'all make everything weird...I was not asking my girl Halle...We just girls 💅🏽 , STFU I WON A VMAAAA," she wrote.

But the 22-year-old pop sensation also seized the moment to honor the essence of African music during her acceptance speech.

Emphasizing the worldwide influence of "Water" on social media, the singer, whose real name is Tyla Laura Seethal, underscored how it features the potential for African music to transcend into pop culture.

"The global impact that 'Water' has had on the world just proves that African music can be pop music too."

"This is such a big moment for Africa and African music."

In her explanation, the singer highlighted the importance of recognizing the diversity within African music beyond just lumping all African artists and Afrobeats into one category.

"Even though Afrobeats has run things and opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse, it's more than just Afrobeats," Tyla added.

Tyla dove into the intricacies of creating amapiano music, a unique South African genre blending house, jazz, and the nostalgic '90s kwaito sound. She proudly declared, "I come from South Africa. I represent amapiano, I represent my culture."

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The "Jump" singer earned three VMA nominations in 2024, marking her debut recognition by MTV amid the controversy of lack of diversity in the music industry. Notably, Tyla secured her first Grammy win for Best African Music Performance last year, coinciding with the category's introduction at the award show.

In solidarity, she acknowledged her fellow nominees and other talented individuals in the Afrobeats category. "Africa to the world," Tyla said.

Aside from her speech, also had a viral moment at this year's MTV VMAs.

During Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba's "Mamushi" performance, the camera panned to Tyla, and her reaction was priceless in the 3-second moment.

In addition to Tyla's speech, another viral moment occurred for her during the recent MTV VMAs. While Megan Thee Stallion and Yuki Chiba were performing "Mamushi," the camera captured Tyla's brief but priceless reaction.

According to X user @AnitaMaxxWinter, "oh Tyla my love they're gonna MEME TF OUTTA YOU. watch twitter make her the face of GAG."

@sathiya0908 added, "I was searching for THIS. I WAS LIKE GURLLL THE SIDE EYES."

"i'm dead- at least she served face," @Concrete_Josh said.

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Tyla, MTV VMAs