The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, USA, and saw the debut of the “Best Afrobeats Song” category, which was won by renowned Nigerian artist Divine Ikubor, also known as Rema.
Rema’s collaboration with American superstar Selena Gomez, “Calm Down,” became the first-ever winner of the newly created “Best Afrobeats Song” category, beating out fierce competition from other Nigerian artists like Wizkid with “2 Sugar,” Burna Boy with “It’s Plenty,” Fireboy and Asake etc.
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During the awards ceremony, Rema was joined on stage by Selena Gomez as they accepted the prestigious award. In his acceptance speech, the 21-year-old music sensation expressed his gratitude and dedicated the honor to the pioneers and legends of afrobeats.
Rema said, “I wanna give big thanks to my fans. I wanna give big thanks to my team. Big shoutout to Selena [Gomez].
I wanna say I love you from the bottom of my heart. This [award] means so much; seeing afrobeats grow and being on this stage representing afrobeats tonight.
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I’m so happy. But one thing I will not forget to do this night is to shout out the people who opened the door for me.
Big shoutout to Fela who started afrobeats, 2Baba, Don Jazzy, D’banj, D’Prince, Runtown, Timaya, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido for opening the door for us new generation of Afrobeats.”
