While the noise continues over the Tyla/ Rihanna Met Gala drama, the pretty girl from Joburg proves yet again that social media is not a real place. The South African superstar who won hearts across the world with her 2023 hit, Water is officially the first ever African artist to be nominated for the BET Awards’ Video of the Year category for Chanel.
Released just 7 months ago in October 2025, the song is also in the running for the Viewer’s Choice Award. Currently sitting on 350 million Spotify streams, Chanel is Tyla’s 3rd most streamed song after Water and Push to Start.
Chanel had a historical debut as number 1 on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart and number 5 on the World Digital Song Sales Chart.
No stranger to the BET awards, Tyla Laura Seethal bagged Best New Artist and Best International Act in 2024. While she missed out on the award in 2025, Tyla secured her 2nd nomination for the Best International Act.
Haters have called her called multiple names including Uppity African and her South African fans ate this up, using this as their own social media usernames. Despite the cyberbullying, Tyla’s light refuses to dim and accolades refuse to stop pouring. In February the dynamite musician snatched the Best African Music Performance at the Grammy awards.
In the same month she also came out victorious in the Outstanding International Song category at the NAACP Image Awards.
Just two years since the release of her self-titled debut album in March 2024, Tyla already boasts more than 35 award wins and nearly 120 nominations.
The songstress with insane dance moves has been defying stereotypes and breaking barriers since the dawn of her career.
Among these are the tireless claims that her career had “flopped” which first emerged in August 2025 when her EP titled We Wanna Party reportedly sold between 3700 and 4000 units in the USA. This was debunked by South African music industry experts who explained in an article published by City Press that album sales in the current digital age were no longer an accurate determinant of an artist’s success.
Images sourced on Gallo