Source: Kevin Winter / Getty
“And the BET award goes to…Tems!”
The BET Awards 2024 prized Tems with the Dr. Bobby Jones Gospel/Inspirational Award this past Sunday, June 30th. The Nigerian songstress took home the title for her track, “Me & U,” breaking Kirk Franklin’s four-year winning streak.
“Me & U” serves as the lead single for her debut album Born in the Wild. The song peaked at number 1 on the UK Afrobeats Singles Chart and number 34 on the UK Singles Chart while in the United States, it reached number 10 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
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According to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Tems penned the song to describe her relationship with Jesus Christ. The confession came when she clarified her creative intentions for an X user who drew parallel between the promotional photo of her standing in shallow natural water wearing a translucent white gown and imagery of Oshun and Yemayá, two deities known as Orishas in the Nigerian Yorùbá spirituality.
“Actually it’s about Jesus Christ teaching me how to walk on water, to trust Him and not in human understanding,” she wrote. “He changed my life. And if you seek Him He will fill you up too.”
In an interview with BBC 1Xtra, she detailed the inspiration for its accompanying music video with similar sentiments. “The whole video is really about God being with me from when I was a child [and] in every version of me, God being there with me, taking me through every single thing.”
This is Tems’s first time being nominated in the category. She beat out big gospel stars that cross genres and generations with her uptempo devotional song. Besides Kirk Franklin, the following were also included in this year’s line up: “All of the Glory” by Shirley Ceasar, “Angel” by Halle Bailey, and “Come Jesus Come” by CeCe Winans. As well as “Do You Believe in Love?” by Erica Campbell, “God Problems” by Maverick City Music, Naomi Raine, and Chandler Moore.
Franklin was poised to win for the fifth time in a row with two song nominations in the running, “All Things” and “Try Love”. The artist is historically the most nominated and awarded in the category. This is his eighth year in a row being up for the award. With the exception of 2019, when Snoop Dogg and the late Rance Allen took the title home, he has won each time.
Tems, 29, is the third secular artist to win the Dr. Bobby Jones Gospel/Inspirational Award. Following Snoop Dogg and Rance Allen’s 2019 win, Lil Baby and Kirk Franklin won for their record, “We Win (Space Jam: A New Legacy)” in 2022.
BET expanded the nominations to include “inspirational” selections in 2005. Kanye West’s ever popular song “Jesus Walks” was first up for consideration. He was nominated again in 2022 for his record “ Come to Life”. H.E.R. and Tauren Wells were considered for “Hold Us Together (Hope Mix)”. In 2023 PJ Morton and KeKe Wyatt were nominated for their track “A Better Benediction Pt. 2”
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