Tems picks up another Grammy as her smash hit song Love Me Jeje beats several big rivals

AFROBEATs star Tems has won her second Grammy Award with her smash hit Love Me JeJe seeing off a line-up heavily dominated by Nigerian artists in the Best African Musical Performance category at the start-studded ceremony yesterday.

At the 67th annual Grammy Awards which held in Los Angeles yesterday, Tems, whose real name is Temilade Openiyi paid tribute to her mother after picking up the gong. Her song, which beat four others by star afrobeats performers, has notched up some 20m views on YouTube.

Love Me Jeje beat Higher by Burna Boy, MMS by Asake and Wizkid and Tomorrow by Yemi Alade to win the Grammy Award. There was a fifth song on the list, which was Chris Brown's Sensational, which the American artist produced in conjunction with Nigerian performers Davido and Lojay.

In her acceptance speech, Tems said: "Wow, dear God. Thank you so much for putting me on this stage and bringing me this team. Tomorrow is my mum’s birthday. I just want to thank you ma because she has really done a lot for me and my brother."

This is Tem's second Grammy Award as in 2023, she and Drake won a Grammy with the song Wait for U. This year she was also nominated for Best International Album and Best R&B Song, making the event very memorable for her.

Nigerian producer, sound engineer and artist George Irabor, alias SirBastien, who was nominated for a Grammy last year, said the awards were a valuable recognition of the country's music scene. He added: "These Grammy awards are important because they reinforce Nigeria’s reputation as a leading force in music. This recognition attracts more investors and global interest."

Afrobeat music was pioneered by Nigerian megastar Fela Kuti in 1970s and since then Lagos and has been influenced by international hip-hop and rhythm and blues. Exported to the West African diaspora in Britain and the US, the genre is breaking through into the international mainstream and music awards circuit.

Titilope Adesanya, director of operations for Africa at the American record label, Empire, said: "For now, most of the biggest stars in the world want to collaborate with our artists and/or producers."  Last year was the first time the Best African Musical Performance category was awarded and it went to South Africa's Tyla for her song Water.