Tyla has been making waves in the world music industry lately, going viral at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and performing at the just-ended Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
This week, she’s back in the news as the Recording Academy’s R&B screening committee has moved her self-titled debut album, originally submitted for the R&B categories, to the pop categories.
If nominated in Pop, Tyla would compete alongside albums like Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
The Recording Academy’s R&B screening committee, composed of genre “experts” who are not Academy members, made the surprising decision to move Tyla’s album to the Best Pop Vocal Album category.
This shift is unexpected, as the album is classified as Amapiano, a fusion of R&B and South African sounds.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tyla’s album would be better suited for the Progressive R&B category rather than being pushed into the Best Pop Vocal Album category.
The R&B category may be the best home for Tyla’s project, and it features collaborations with Travis Scott, Tems, Gunna, Becky G, and Skillibeng.
Six of the tracks from Tyla have appeared on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart, including the viral hit Water which reached the No.1 spot.
Water peaked at No.7 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart and spent 51 weeks on top of the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart.
Tyla could also be in the best world music album category, where most Afrobeats artistes including Burna Boy, Tems, and Ayra Starr have submitted their albums.
The first round of voting for the 2025 Grammys ended last week.
The 2025 Grammy’s final Nominations will be announced on November 8, and final voting will start from December 12 through to January 3, 2025.
The live show will air on Feb. 2, 2025, from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
