Tyla and Tems Soul Train Awards Nomination Announced

Tyla and Tems have both earned nominations for R&B/Soul Song of the Year at the 2026 Soul Train Awards, putting two of Africa’s most influential contemporary voices in contention for a category historically tied to the evolution of Black American music. Tyla enters with “CHANEL”, while Tems is nominated for “What You Need”. They are among 10 nominees in the category, alongside Brent Faiyaz, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown and Bryson Tiller, Daniel Caesar, Justin Bieber, Kehlani, Mariah the Scientist, Kali Uchis, and Olivia Dean.

Tems’ “What You Need” is a slow-burning, emotionally exposed record from her 2025 EP Love Is a Kingdom. It finds her in one of her most vulnerable modes, stripping away some of the mysticism and grandeur that often surrounds her music for something more direct: the exhaustion of remaining in a relationship that has already run its course. The song’s restrained production leaves plenty of room for her voice to carry the weight, and that decision has proved commercially significant. “What You Need” eventually became Tems’ first solo Hot 100 Top 40 hit, while also reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and Adult R&B Airplay chart.

It is a useful reminder that Tems’ relationship with R&B has never been merely a matter of classification. She has spent years bending the genre around her own musical instincts, pulling from Nigerian alternative music, Afrobeats, soul and contemporary R&B without needing to completely belong to any one of them. “What You Need” makes that argument quietly. Its COLORS performance later gave the song another life, with the performance peaking at No. 2 on the Official Afrobeats Chart.

Tyla’s “CHANEL”, released in October 2025, is more kinetic, more glamorous and much more immediately interested in the dancefloor. Built around Tyla’s amapiano instincts and polished into global pop, the song turns luxury and romance into a playful demand: if you are going to profess your love, make it feel as expensive as you say it is. Produced by Ian Kirkpatrick and P2J, “CHANEL” became the lead single from Tyla’s second studio album A*POP and eventually spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart. It also topped the Official Afrobeats Chart in the UK.

“CHANEL” demonstrates how much the genre’s contemporary vocabulary has expanded. Amapiano, Afrobeats, pop and R&B now exist in a much more fluid conversation, particularly among artists who grew up hearing all of them at once. Tyla has become one of the clearest faces of that shift, carrying South African musical language into a global pop ecosystem.

Both artists have already moved beyond the old “African breakthrough” narrative. Tyla has a Grammy-winning global hit in “Water”, a second Grammy and a sophomore album built around a much larger pop ambition. Her A*POP era has positioned her less as an African artist crossing over and more as a global pop star whose African identity is fundamental to the sound she exports.

Tems, meanwhile, has spent much of the last few years proving that her music can operate comfortably inside spaces that once treated African artists as guests. “What You Need” is perhaps one of her clearest examples yet. The song’s success on American R&B radio gives context to its Soul Train nomination: this is not simply an Afrobeats artist being acknowledged in an R&B category. Tems has become part of the contemporary R&B conversation on its own terms.

The 2026 Soul Train Awards themselves are entering a new chapter. After a period away from television, the ceremony returns on November 27 with Spotify as the presenting partner, and for the first time, fans will determine the winners in two new categories. R&B/Soul Song of the Year will be decided through voting on BET.com, while the new Spotify RNB X International Artist category will be voted on through Spotify. Tems is also nominated in that international category alongside FLO, Odeal, Cleo Sol, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tiana Major9 and kwn.

That second nomination makes Tems’ presence particularly notable. She is being recognised within a category specifically designed around artists pushing R&B beyond borders.

For Tyla, “CHANEL” represents the increasingly blurred line between African pop and global R&B. For Tems, “What You Need” represents the arrival of an African artist whose music has become increasingly difficult to separate from the wider R&B landscape.

The Soul Train Awards were built around the idea that Black music could stretch, mutate and travel. More than five decades after Don Cornelius first introduced the world to the “hippest trip in America”, Tyla and Tems arriving together in one of its headline categories is like a continuation of that same journey.

Fans can vote for R&B/Soul Song of the Year through October 16, with the winner to be announced at the Soul Train Awards on November 27.