The Nigerian afrobeats star clinched the inaugural Best Afrobeats award at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Picture: Instagram/@rema
Rema's Billboard charting global hit single ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez won the inaugural Best Afrobeats award at the recent 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.
During his speech at the awards on Tuesday night in Newark, New Jersey, Rema thanked God, his fans, his team and paid homage to aftobeats pioneers for paving the way for his success.
“First of all, I wanna give thanks to God. I wanna give big thanks to my fans... I wanna give big thanks to my team, big shout out to Selena I wanna say I love you from the bottom of my heart,” he said as Gomez stood next to him and smiled.
“This means so much seeing afrobeats grow this big and being here on this stage representing afrobeats tonight. I’m so happy, but one thing I will not forget to do tonight is shout out the people who opened the door for me.”
He went on to pay homage to Fela Kuti for founding the genre, before shouting out the likes of D’Banj and Don Jazzy for putting afrobeats on the map and Davido, Burna Boy and Wizkid for taking it to global heights.
“@heisrema and @selenagomez just made #VMA history!!! "Calm Down" won the FIRST-EVER moonperson for Best Afrobeats ❤️,” posted the VMAs on Instagram.
After the show, Rema also took to his Instagram to thank his fans for the support and share his appreciation towards Gomez. “I feel really blessed, thank you all for supporting us! I love you so much @selenagomez.”
Earlier in the week, Rema celebrated the ‘Calm Down’ remix becoming the first song by an African primary artist to ever reach one billion streams on Spotify.
“Big shout out to Selena and her team and everyone who supported us to get this far. It’s a blessing,” he said.