Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, made history on Sunday night by winning her first Grammy award.
The artist, who featured alongside Drake on Future’s “Wait for You,” took home the award for Best Rap Melodic Performance. The song was also nominated for the Best Rap Song award.
Tems joins legendary Nigerian-British singer Sade Adu as the female artists who have won a Grammy. Sade won the Best New Artist award in 1986.
Burna Boy, who also has a Grammy award on his shelf, missed out on the two nominations he was a part of this year.
His album “Love Damini” and the song “Last Last” were nominated for the Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance awards respectively.
However, the winners of these categories were Japanese musician Masa Takumi for his album “Sakura” and “Bayethe” by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini, and Nomcebo Zikode.
The Grammy awards have long been elusive for Nigerian artists, but with Burna Boy’s win in 2021 for Best Global Music Album for his album “Twice as Tall,” more artists are striving to win the golden gramophone.
