Nigeria’s Tems is the sole African winner at 2025 Grammys
Nigerian singer, Tems, was the only African artist who walked away with an award at the 2025 Grammys held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA on 2 February.
Tems. Photo: Leon Bennett
Tems won the Best African Music Performance for her song ‘Love Me Jeje’ beating Burna Boy, Asake, Wizkid, Chris Brown, Davido, Lojay and Yemi Alade.
“Dear God, thank you so much for putting me on top this stage and bringing me this team,” Tems said in her acceptance speech. “Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. This our first Grammys, and I want to thank you mom, because she done a lot for me and my brother. Happy birthday mom.”
However, Tems lost the Best R&B Song award to SZA’s Saturn and the Best Global Music Album award to Matt B and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Alkebulan II’. Additionally, Angélique Kidjo, Soweto Gospel Choir, and Rocky Dawuni, who were nominated for Best Global Music Performance, lost to American singer Sheila E.
Below is the list of categories featuring Africans:
Best African Music Performance
- ‘Love Me JeJe’ – Tems
- ‘MMS’ – Asake & Wizkid
- ‘Higher’ – Burna Boy
- ‘Sensational’ – Chris Brown ft. Davido & Lojay
- ‘Tomorrow’ – Yemi Alade
Best Global Music Performance
- ‘Bemba Colorá’ – Sheila E. featuring Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar
- ‘Sunlight to My Soul’ – Angélique Kidjo & Soweto Gospel Choir
- ‘Raat Ki Rani’ – Arooj Aftab
- ‘A Rock Somewhere’ – Jacob Collier featuring Anoushka Shankar & Varijashree Venugopal
- ‘Kashira’ –Masa Takumi featuring Ron Korb, Noshir Mody & Dale Edward Chung
- ‘Rise’ – Rocky Dawuni
Best Global Music Album
- Alkebulan II – Matt B & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Historias de un Flamenco – Antonio Rey
- Paisajes – Ciro Hurtado
- HEIS – Rema
- Born in the Wild – Tems
Best R&B Song
- ‘Saturn’ – SZA
- ‘Burning’ – Tems
- ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’ – Coco Jones
- ‘After Hours’ – Kehlani
- ‘Ruined Me’ – Muni Long
