African artists Tems, Wouter Kellerman win at 2025 Grammys

Tems won the Best African Music Performance for her song ‘Love Me Jeje’ beating Burna Boy, Asake, Wizkid, Chris Brown, Davido, Lojay and Yemi Alade. For his part, Kellerman, along with Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto and Indian vocalist Chandrika Tandon, won a Grammy in the Best New Age category for their album Triveni.

Tems and Kellerman are no strangers to Grammy success. With Sunday’s win, Tems becomes the first Nigerian artist to take home two Grammy Awards, adding to her 2023 win for Best Melodic Rap Performance for her feature on Future’s ‘Wait For U’. For Kellerman, this marks his third Grammy Award, following previous wins in 2015 with Ricky Kej and in 2023 with Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode.

“Dear God, thank you so much for putting me on top this stage and bringing me this team,” Tems said in her acceptance speech. “Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. This our first Grammys, and I want to thank you mom, because she done a lot for me and my brother. Happy birthday mom.”

Kellerman said: “Thank you so much; this is amazing. This is testament to the fact that music has the power to unite and to heal. Thank you, Chandrika, thank you, Eru, and all the musicians on the album. Big thank you to Tholsi [Pillay, Kellerman’s manager], best friend, and business partner. Most importantly, to all of you music connects, [I] am very grateful to share this moment with you.”

Despite the win, Tems lost the Best R&B Song award to SZA’s Saturn and the Best Global Music Album award to Matt B and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Alkebulan II’. Additionally, Angélique Kidjo, Soweto Gospel Choir, and Rocky Dawuni, who were nominated for Best Global Music Performance, lost to American singer Sheila E.

Below is the list of categories featuring Africans:

Best African Music Performance

• ‘Love Me JeJe’ – Tems
• ‘MMS’ – Asake & Wizkid
• ‘Higher’ – Burna Boy
• ‘Sensational’ – Chris Brown ft. Davido & Lojay
• ‘Tomorrow’ – Yemi Alade

Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album 

• Wouter Kellerman, Éru Matsumoto & Chandrika Tandon – Triveni
• Ricky Kej – Break of Dawn
• Ryuichi Sakomoto – Opus
• Anoushka Shankar – Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn
• Radhika Vekaria – Warriors of Light

Best Global Music Performance

• ‘Bemba Colorá’ – Sheila E. featuring Gloria Estefan & Mimy Succar
• ‘Sunlight to My Soul’ – Angélique Kidjo & Soweto Gospel Choir
• ‘Raat Ki Rani’ – Arooj Aftab
• ‘A Rock Somewhere’ – Jacob Collier featuring Anoushka Shankar & Varijashree Venugopal
• ‘Kashira’ –Masa Takumi featuring Ron Korb, Noshir Mody & Dale Edward Chung
• ‘Rise’ – Rocky Dawuni

Best Global Music Album

• Alkebulan II – Matt B & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Historias de un Flamenco – Antonio Rey
• Paisajes – Ciro Hurtado
• HEIS – Rema
• Born in the Wild – Tems

Best R&B Song

• ‘Saturn’ – SZA
• ‘Burning’ – Tems
• ‘Here We Go (Uh Oh)’ – Coco Jones
• ‘After Hours’ – Kehlani
• ‘Ruined Me’ – Muni Long