The 27-year-old Nigerian singer revealed to GQ magazine about what Rihanna said along with her humble start in the music business, which suddenly transformed her into a proud co-singer of Beyoncé, Drake and several other celebrities.
Rihanna told me to stop being humble, says Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Tems
Nigerian Singer and songwriter Temilade Openiyi, known professionally as Tems, said Rihanna once told her to stop being so humble. “She was like, ‘You need to be that bi**h you know you are’”.
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Indeed, Tems has come a long way from being that unaccomplished young lady who was struggling to see her name up in proverbial lights.
Today, things have changed as she now has fans in personages such as Barack Obama, Future, Adele, and SZA.
However, despite this soaring success, the Nigerian singer seems to keep her feet on the ground, even as her head is in the clouds. She is known for her signature mellowness.
“I just have this chill thing going on,” she says about her inherent cool.
However, she doesn’t want this calm exterior to be mistaken for a lack of gratitude or a feeling of superiority regarding her massive success.
“Of course, it means something to me,” she confessed. “If someone told my five-year-old self listening to Destiny’s Child that one day you’re going to have a song with one of them [Beyoncé], I might just be confused.”
Unbelievable success
Tems first burst on the scene with her song “Essence,” which is a 2020 collaboration with Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Wizkid.
The duet with Wizkid reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, earning her a Grammy nomination and a name in the music industry which has continued to grow.
Two years later, she followed this success up with two Eps. She has also featured on US rapper Future’s “Wait For You,” Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, and the soundtrack for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“Yes, these things add up to my career. But they’re not the core of my story,” she said about her success.
Rihanna’s exhortation to her may also be considered another notch in her belt as the Take A Bow hitmaker doesn’t tell that to just anybody.
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