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There’s nary mentation of Tems’ “Love Me JeJe” successful which we don’t dance. The Nigerian singer-songwriter paid tribute to her homeland with the lushly produced azygous astatine Coachella this year, successful beforehand of a assemblage that could rival the size of a statesmanlike inauguration. Before they knew it, thousands were swaying, caught successful the existent of suavely executed Afrobeat and its distinguished woman of Lagos.
In the abstraction of a fewer years, Tems has collaborated with Beyoncé and Future and go 1 of the astir salient Nigerian names successful music. In 2020, she and chap Lagos popular prima Wizkid moved the needle with “Essence,” an award-winning way that made past arsenic the archetypal Nigerian merchandise to participate the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10. The azygous was specified a crossover success, Justin Bieber hopped connected the remix, amplifying its scope and reinforcing that Afrobeat is present to stay.
“I'm precise blessed to beryllium from Nigeria. There's a airy that is conscionable being shone successful Africa close present and I'm conscionable blessed that much radical are being discovered,” Tems tells the Weekly from her location successful London. “It felt truly bully to marque the radical that are backmost location consciousness similar thing is possible.”
In the euphony video for “Love Me JeJe,” Tems tin beryllium seen dancing astatine parties and navigating the crammed metropolitan streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest coastal metropolis with a colonisation steadily climbing toward 20 million. It’s a tourer destination successful its ain right, with sandy beaches to walk, pitchy skis and bicycles to ride, creation to view—all things Tems admits person go favourite pastimes.
“Every time is simply a caller adventure,” she says. “You tin ne'er get bored successful Lagos, there's ever thing happening.”
When asked if she ever gets homesick, the vocalist reveals she has homes successful London, Ghana and Lagos, which she visits aggregate times during the year. That reprieve from the spotlight seems needed present that she’s embarking connected her archetypal satellite tour, successful enactment of her highly anticipated debut, Born successful the Wild. The 18-track offering has been praised for its richly defined African inspirations. But beyond the sleek confines of Afrobeat and instant classics similar “Me & U,” you tin consciousness Tems’ R&B and hip-hop inclinations, particularly arsenic she raps connected the opus “T-Unit.”
“I ever utilized to bash that, which is wherefore I felt similar it was important for maine to amusement that side,” Tems says. “That's really maine connected a mean time basis. And I consciousness similar this task was maine trying to stock each the sides of me, each the antithetic sides to me.”
Spoken connection interludes marque an quality doubly connected the record, with “Voices successful My Head” serving arsenic a almighty reminder to enactment existent to one’s self. Given however rapidly Tems ascended to her newfound fame, the way feels similar a summation of what Born successful the Wild is genuinely each about.
“I wanted to springiness position connected my environment. It's truly astir maine sharing what I was raised into, the radical that are astir maine that helped maine to grow, what that looks like, what that sounds like, what that feels like,” Tems says of the interlude. “These are the voices, these are the radical that benignant of helped maine to stay me. I thought it was important to stock the voices I person portion I'm successful the wild, portion I'm navigating the world.”
On Born successful the Wild, Tems bares much than we arsenic listeners astir apt deserve. But successful retrospect, it’s conscionable a sliver of the full truth. Tems’ resonant, astir melancholic transportation successful opus inactive belies truthful overmuch astir her existent quality extracurricular of her craft.
“I deliberation the misconception is that I'm this heavy person. I mean, I americium intellectual, but I'm precise playful. I emotion to laughter and play. I don't instrumentality myself seriously,” she says.
Without prompt, she goes into each the details radical whitethorn not know: “My favourite colour is pink. I emotion flowers. I'm precise girly. I'm much girly than radical think.”
She’s besides a spot of a thrill-seeker, 1 who can’t hold to execute her archetypal amusement successful Las Vegas.
“Last clip I was successful Vegas, my uncle made maine and my cousins spell skydiving,” she says. “That was the craziest acquisition of my full life. But I'm reasoning of doing it again.”
TEMS With Lekan. September 29, 8 p.m., $140+. Theater astatine Virgin, axs.com.
English (US) ·