Ready for her Las Vegas debut, Tems talks about making Lagos proud, embracing playfulness and more
Amber SampsonFri, Sep 27, 2024 (8 a.m.)
There’s no version of Tems’ “Love Me JeJe” in which we don’t dance. The Nigerian singer-songwriter paid tribute to her homeland with the lushly produced single at Coachella this year, in front of a crowd that could rival the size of a presidential inauguration. Before they knew it, thousands were swaying, caught in the current of suavely executed Afrobeat and its distinguished lady of Lagos.
In the space of a few years, Tems has collaborated with Beyoncé and Future and become one of the most prominent Nigerian names in music. In 2020, she and fellow Lagos pop star Wizkid moved the needle with “Essence,” an award-winning track that made history as the first Nigerian release to enter the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10. The single was such a crossover success, Justin Bieber hopped on the remix, amplifying its reach and reinforcing that Afrobeat is here to stay.
“I’m very happy to be from Nigeria. There’s a light that is just being shone in Africa right now and I’m just happy that more people are being discovered,” Tems tells the Weekly from her home in London. “It felt really good to make the people that are back home feel like anything is possible.”
In the music video for “Love Me JeJe,” Tems can be seen dancing at parties and navigating the crammed metropolitan streets of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest coastal city with a population steadily climbing toward 20 million. It’s a tourist destination in its own right, with sandy beaches to walk, jet skis and bicycles to ride, art to view—all things Tems admits have become favorite pastimes.
“Every day is a new adventure,” she says. “You can never get bored in Lagos, there’s always something happening.”
“Last time I was in Vegas, my uncle made me and my cousins go skydiving,” she says. “That was the craziest experience of my entire life. But I’m thinking of doing it again.”
When asked if she ever gets homesick, the singer reveals she has homes in London, Ghana and Lagos, which she visits multiple times during the year. That reprieve from the spotlight seems needed now that she’s embarking on her first world tour, in support of her highly anticipated debut, Born in 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 like “Me & U,” you can sense Tems’ R&B and hip-hop inclinations, especially as she raps on the song “T-Unit.”
“I always used to do that, which is why I felt like it was important for me to show that side,” Tems says. “That’s actually me on a normal day basis. And I feel like this project was me trying to share all the sides of me, all the different sides to me.”
Spoken word interludes make an appearance twice on the record, with “Voices in My Head” serving as a powerful reminder to stay true to one’s self. Given how quickly Tems ascended to her newfound fame, the track feels like a summation of what Born in the Wild is truly all about.
“I wanted to give perspective on my environment. It’s really about me sharing what I was raised into, the people that are around me that helped me 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 people that kind of helped me to remain me. I thought it was important to share the voices I have while I’m in the wild, while I’m navigating the world.”
On Born in the Wild, Tems bares more than we as listeners probably deserve. But in retrospect, it’s just a sliver of the whole truth. Tems’ resonant, almost melancholic delivery in song still belies so much about her true nature outside of her craft.
“I think the misconception is that I’m this deep person. I mean, I am intellectual, but I’m very playful. I love to laugh and play. I don’t take myself seriously,” she says.
Without prompt, she goes into all the details people may not know: “My favorite color is pink. I love flowers. I’m very girly. I’m more girly than people think.”
She’s also a bit of a thrill-seeker, one who can’t wait to perform her first show in Las Vegas.
“Last time I was in Vegas, my uncle made me and my cousins go skydiving,” she says. “That was the craziest experience of my entire life. But I’m thinking of doing it again.”
