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Tems revealed she was prepared to die
Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi, who is widely recognized as Tems and has won a Grammy, recently opened up about her decision to transition from Afrobeats, a prominent genre in the country, to pursue R&B.
Tems shared that she was fully prepared to face significant consequences when she made this shift. Her unwavering belief in herself was so strong that she was undeterred by the possibility of not achieving recognition or prominence in the realm of R&B.
The artist behind the hit track ‘Essence’ explained that her primary motivation was to convey a message through her music.
Tems discussed this aspect during a conversation with American rapper Kendrick Lamar, which was featured in the latest edition of Interview Magazine.
Tems said, “I was prepared to die. I believed in myself so much that I didn’t really care if I never became anything or anyone. I just wanted to get a message out. I wanted to get my frequency out. And I was like, ‘Even if ten people hear this, it’s fine.’ But also along the way, I used to listen to a lot of Nigerian music and I wasn’t getting a lot of spiritual—I love Celine Dion, so, I love that intense feeling of, I’m about to jump off a cliff. That’s how I want my music to feel all the time, and Afrobeats wasn’t necessarily giving me that type of stimulation.”
She said everyone she asked for advice from back then, urged her to do afrobeats, saying, “The only way you can do this is Afrobeats. It’s not that your music is bad, it’s just that it doesn’t fit in Nigeria. Nigerians don’t like this.”
The singer, who received an Oscar nomination, expressed her determination to persist, highlighting that monetary gain wasn’t her primary objective. Instead, she emphasized that she is relentlessly pursuing a specific creative and emotional resonance, describing it as “chasing a frequency.”