Tems: The Nigerian Star Redefining Global R&B
Source: Burak Cingi / Getty
Tems — born Temilade Openiyi on June 11, 1995, in Lagos, Nigeria — is a remarkable force in global music today. From advocacy to award-winning hits, here’s what to know about her remarkable career and what the R&B goddess has in store for fans on the horizon.
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Early life
Raised primarily by her mother after her parents separated when she was 5, Tems grew up in a household where she explored her own voice and identity. She wrote her first song at the age of six after finding her mother’s poetry book, which sparked her passion for singing, according to her 2020 interview with The Fader.
That curiosity and spark traveled with her into her teenage years. At 17, Tems joined a choir and found solace in singing, despite initially feeling that her voice was “too heavy” to pursue professionally.
“I thought I sounded like a man, so I used to sing with my falsetto, and then I met my music teacher, who helped train my voice and encouraged me to keep going,” she revealed. “I always wanted to be an artist when I started training, working with my music teacher. I also joined the choir when I was 17. All that was in secret; my mum was the only person who knew. My brother plays the guitar, and we used to have mini-concerts in his room. He liked rock-type songs — Coldplay, Paramore— but it was great ‘cause it made me learn how to form songs to anything. He’d play and I’d just freestyle.”
Breakthrough projects
Her official entry into music came when she left her job in digital marketing in 2018 and released her self-produced debut single “Mr Rebel,” according to Song Sense. That move signaled she was ready to go full-time in music. The following year, in August 2019, she dropped “Try Me,” a song that resonated widely in Nigeria and set the stage for something much bigger to come.
It was the 2020 collaboration with Wizkid on “Essence” that became her breakthrough project. The track soared onto global charts, peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a remix with Justin Bieber, and earned Tems her first Grammy nomination, a major leap for a Nigerian female artist operating largely independently until that point. Her minimalist yet deeply emotive vocal delivery and her songwriting authenticity marked her as a fresh voice in Afrobeats, fusing R&B with neo-soul.
From that point on, Tems’s career trajectory accelerated rapidly. She featured on major international tracks, for example, her appearance with Future and Drake on “Wait for U” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Tems the first African female artist to achieve the feat in 2022. The song also won a Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Tems continued her success that year, co-writing “Lift Me Up” for the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever alongside Rihanna, earning an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination, according to Billboard.
Sound, Style, and Influence
Tems’s style and sound reflect a fusion of her Nigerian roots with international influences. She’s expressed admiration for artists like Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill, and Celine Dion, R&B icons known for crafting powerful, emotional moments. That’s the kind of impact she strives for when creating.
“Music is meant to make you feel something. And a lot of music now is for utility, it doesn’t necessarily make you feel something,” Tems told NPR in 2024. “I really want to feel it in my chest! I want to feel sad, I want to feel happy, I want to feel motivated.”
Her EPs For Broken Ears and If Orange Was a Place established her introspective aesthetic and production credentials: she wrote and produced much of her own music on both projects. Her sound is often spacious and vulnerable, yet confident, grounded in her voice and personal stories, blending their emotional intensity with Afro-rhythms and neo-soul textures.
Tems holds on to authenticity when she makes music.
“To find my sound, I stopped listening to everybody when I was around 15, apart from the songs I made with my brother. I wanted to learn how to attack a song from what I was feeling, not what Beyoncé would do or anyone else,” the star told The Fader.
In 2024, she released her debut album Born in the Wild, featuring the hit single “Me & U” and her Grammy-award–winning track “Love Me JeJe,” R&B love ballads that captivated audiences worldwide. According to REVOLT, Tems wrote and produced most of the acclaimed project herself, just as she did with both of her earlier EPs.
Culture & Advocacy
Beyond her music, Tems has become a strong advocate for creativity and empowerment. In 2022, she launched Leading Vibe Radio on Apple Music, a platform dedicated to highlighting African creatives, particularly women finding their voice in the arts. The show has since evolved into a live event series and community called the Leading Vibe Initiative, led by the Grammy winner, offering mentorship, access, and real opportunities to empower African women in music.
In the past, the Nigerian star has also sold clothes and accessories from her own closet in Lagos and donated the proceeds to the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), an NGO dedicated to combating gender-based violence in Nigeria, REVOLT noted.
What’s next?
Looking ahead, Tems is featured in a new song alongside British rapper, Dave. According to a photo shared to the Brit’s Instagram, the track is called “Raindance,” and appears as the fifth song on his third studio album, The Boy Who Played the Harp, set for release Oct. 24.
Tema’s rise from Lagos-born choir singer to Grammy and Oscar-nominated, multi-award-winning talent represents a new wave of African artistry with global resonance. Her footprint in music, style, and activism signals something larger, a creativity rooted in her origin yet fluent in the world.
The post Tems: The Nigerian Star Redefining Global R&B appeared first on MadameNoire.
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