Tyla, Travis Scott and Vybz Kartel on one track is already a strange and exciting sentence. Now that song, “PBT,” is reportedly in the Grammy conversation, submitted for Best Music Video as part of a sprawling campaign from the South African star.
According to submission lists shared by @TheGrammyGuru, Tyla has put her name forward across pop, R&B, rap, dance and African music categories for the 2027 Grammy Awards. That’s a wide net for an artist who first broke through on the amapiano wave.
The centerpiece is her album APOP, submitted for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album and Best Album Cover.
That mix covers the artistic and technical sides of the record, which suggests her team thinks the whole package can compete, not just the singles.
“Chanel” is carrying the heaviest load. It’s been entered for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video, so it could land in four major races if voters bite.
The pop push goes deeper. “That Girl” joins “Chanel” in Best Pop Solo Performance, “She Did It Again” with Zara Larsson is up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and “Kiss” has been entered for Best Dance Pop Recording.
On the R&B side, “Right Now” is in for both Best R&B Solo Performance and Best R&B Song. Then there’s the rap play, with “Game Time,” featuring Future and FIFA Sound, submitted for Best Melodic Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.
She hasn’t abandoned the category that made her a Grammy winner in the first place. Tyla took home the first ever Best African Music Performance award for “Water” in 2024, and this cycle she’s entered three songs there: “I Don’t Care” with Babalwa M, “Memories” with Lojay and “Body Go” with MOLIY.
For reggae and dancehall fans, the Kartel connection is the eyebrow raiser. The Jamaican star walked free in 2024 after the Privy Council overturned his murder conviction, and appearing in a Grammy submission next to Travis Scott on a Tyla record shows how quickly he’s been pulled back into global pop circles.
There’s a cautious read on all this, though. Submissions aren’t nominations, and the Recording Academy’s voting process decides which entries actually advance to the final ballot.
Spreading across this many categories can also split attention. Three songs competing for the same African Music slot, plus two in Pop Solo, means Tyla is partly running against herself, a gamble that sometimes pays off and sometimes leaves voters picking just one.
Supporters see it differently. To them, the range is the point: an African artist entering pop, R&B, rap and dance on equal footing, with features from Sweden, Atlanta, Houston, Nigeria and Jamaica stitched together.
The official nominations will settle how much of this ambitious list survives. Until then, the APOP campaign is out there, and Tyla’s camp is clearly betting big.
