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Five months in the making and the Samsung NXT 2.0 competition came to an end, crowning Nyla XO as the winner of the social media driven singing competition. 
On Friday, February 17, finalists Nyla XO, Julian King and Kyn Rose took to the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles to face off against each other in front of a jam-packed crowd of attendees and celebrity judges Natti Natasha, Eric Nam and Tinashe. Billboard’s Tetris Kelly helped spearhead the evening, which was livestreamed for fans on Billboard.com and Billboard Twitter account.

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Wes and Alex

During the showdown, fans were treated to two rounds from the contestants: the Covers Round and Original Song Round. For the batch of performances, the trio nodded to their challenge creatives by putting their own spin on three Billboard Hot 100 hits: “Golden Hour” by JVKE (Nyla), “Kill Bill” by SZA (King) and “Bad Habit” by Steve Lacy (Rose). Each performance was preceded by the premiere of an intimate mentorship documentary that the contestants filmed with their celebrity mentor: Flo Milli (Nyla), Mariah Angeliq (King) and BIBI (Rose). After a cumulative vote from the judges, in-theater attendees using the Samsung Galazy Z Flip 4 at voting stations and a Twitter poll, Kyn was eliminated from the competition. From there, Nyla and King brought their best as individual acts, performing two original songs, “Perfect View” and “Can We Go Back?” respectively.

Wes and Alex

Wes and Alex

Wes and Alex

To help crown the winner, inaugural Samsung NXT champ Bronze Avery returned to the stage to help our host and the judges crown the NXT 2.0 winner. Using the same voting mechanism, Kelly pulled out Samsung’s newest Galaxy S23 Ultra to reveal Nyla as the victorious champ of the competition. And it wouldn’t be a grand finale event, without a celebratory selfie at the end of the end of the show.

“I feel so seen in this moment,”  Nyla said in a statement about her win. “I’ve walked away with the validation that people see me, the hard work I’ve put in over the years, my heart when I perform, and how my music makes them feel. To be recognized in this way as an artist is incredible!

Wes and Alex

Congratulations to Samsung NXT 2.0 winner Nyla XO, who is going to land on the cover of a special digital issue of Billboard, a meeting with a record label, funding for a music video, and tickets to the 2023 Billboard Music Awards.