Afrobeats artist Rema won the maiden “Best Afrobeats Song” category at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards in New Jersey, USA, on 12.09.2023. Nominated alongside Burna Boy, Wizkid, Ayra Starr, and Davido, Rema clinched the award for his hit song Calm Down with Selena Gomez.
In his acceptance speech, Rema acknowledged the contributions of African artists who paved the way for him including the likes of Dbang, Fela Kuti, 2Baba, and Timaya. Selena Gomez joined him on stage and when asked to speak by Rema thanked the artist for allowing her to be part of the song and showed love for Nigeria.
Rema did say; “Seeing Afrobeats this big and me representing Afrobeats tonight, I am so happy, but what I wouldn’t forget to do tonight is to forget to shout out to people who opened the doors for me. Big shout out to Fela Kuti, who started Afrobeats in the first place, Baba, Don Jazzy, Dbanj, DPrince, Runtown Timaya, WIzkid, Burna Boy, Davido. And to the new generation of Afrobeats.”
![Rema and Selena Gomez win the first-ever Afrobeats MTV VMA [Calm Down]🏆🇳🇬](https://riddimsworld.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FjlcdC2ZeTgc%2F0.jpg)
Davido, who attended the event, exercised a form of humility that I certainly do not expect from Burna and described Rema’s victory as “well deserved.”
On his X handle, Davido wrote about Rema’s feat saying “Well deserved! Shine young King! @heisrema”
To be fair, Calm Down was a hit though and the award was well deserved and we salute you Rema. Rema’s career is firmly in traveling mode now and the artist has kicked on with other tracks including Charm and Holiday.
