{"id":49216,"date":"2026-02-05T17:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T17:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=49216"},"modified":"2026-02-05T17:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T17:55:20","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignsomizi-mhlongo-defends-tyla-after-social-media-backlash-over-grammy-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/05\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignsomizi-mhlongo-defends-tyla-after-social-media-backlash-over-grammy-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Somizi Mhlongo defends Tyla after social media backlash over Grammy win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_163483\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-163483\" class=\"wp-image-163483 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Somizi-Mhlongo-defends-Tyla-after-social-media-backlash-over-Grammy.jpg?resize=600%2C470&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Somizi-Mhlongo-defends-Tyla-after-social-media-backlash-over-Grammy.jpg 600w, https:\/\/fakazanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Somizi-300x235.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-163483\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Somizi slams Nigerians as he defends Tyla<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>South African media personality Somizi Mhlongo has come to the defence of music star Tyla following intense criticism online after her historic second Grammy win.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old singer, who beat Nigerian superstar Davido to claim the award for Best African Music Performance, faced backlash on social media, particularly from Nigerian fans who felt their artists were more deserving.<\/p>\n<p>In a video addressing the controversy, Somizi spoke passionately about the unfairness of the criticism and the damaging effect it had on African unity in the music industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m gonna speak about this as calmly and as politely as I can. The level of entitlement. The sense of entitlement. Grammys are not your mother\u2019s jumping castle party. Grammys are not Nigerian music awards. The level of entitlement thinking that only Nigerians who are nominated are qualified to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to highlight that the criticism was particularly hurtful because Tyla is a woman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat hurts the most is that it\u2019s a woman, and not a Nigerian woman. It\u2019s a South African woman who was nominated alongside three Nigerians, if I\u2019m right. Now it feels like we\u2019re being made a laughing stock to the world. People look at us and say, look at these Africans, we give them a chance, and now they\u2019re fighting over it. The Grammys don\u2019t care about anyone\u2019s feelings. It\u2019s all about the facts, and when it comes to that song, the numbers don\u2019t lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Somizi urged critics to recognise the achievements of all artists involved, not just focus on Davido.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop acting like only Davido deserved to win and ignoring the achievements of the other nominated artists.<\/p>\n<p>Every artist there earned their place and deserved to win. Also, let me remind you, that category wasn\u2019t for Afrobeats. It was for the best African performance. And stop saying Tyla\u2019s music isn\u2019t African. She\u2019s South African, and we, as South Africans, enjoy and connect with her music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop thinking you are the gods of music. Nigerian music is beautiful, but you\u2019re taking away the beauty of African music,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 4 -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Somizi #Mhlongo #defends #Tyla #social #media #backlash #Grammy #win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Somizi slams Nigerians as he defends Tyla South African media personality Somizi Mhlongo has come to the defence of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49218,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49216\/revisions\/49218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}