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Tems remakes R&B in her image with ‘Born in the Wild’: ‘I really want to feel it in my chest!’ NPR
Tems makes a great case for quitting. Before she was captivating millions with deep, dynamic vocals and setting a new pace for African artists on a global stage, the Nigerian singer-songwriter was daydreaming of the life in music she leads now. The only problem with this dream? Her stuffy, safe, corporate job in marketing.
“I took a leap,” the artist says. “Like, I jumped off the cliff. I didn’t know whether I would get wings. I didn’t know whether anybody would pick me up. I just jumped.”
At the start of 2018, young Temilade Openiyi knew the position was a dead end for her. But answering her real calling would require taking a risk — and facing down an unsupportive boss. “She was like, ‘If you’re not careful I will fire you.’ And I was like, ‘Actually this is the best time to say I want to quit. I was like ‘I’m going to sing.’ She was livid.”
Tems laughs about this conversation now, but in the moment, she remembers feeling so scared and unstable that she burst into tears. Even through that fear, she knew she was making the right decision: “I left the room shaking but I felt relieved, like ‘OK, now I’m starting my real life.’”
All those years since shaking in her boss’s office, Tems’ ‘real life’ now revolves around the practice of pouring into her never-ending well of artistry. It’s a practice that’s paying off in full. The 28-year-old singer is an amplifier of Nigeria’s alté scene — a movement mashing up R&B, Afrobeats, dancehall and more. She’s helped usher in an African takeover of pop music thanks to her assist on Wizkid’s undeniable hit single, “Essence.” She’s a Grammy winner and an Oscar nominee and a multi-hyphenated producer, engineer and director who wields a sought-after pen for collaborators like Beyoncé, Rihanna and Drake. Her full-length debut album Born In The Wild, out now, immortalizes this ascension and what it’s taken to get here.
For Tems, to be Born In The Wild means learning “to have tough skin and be comfortable in uncertainty.” She knows this feeling well. At the time of her 2018 resignation, the singer was already a trained vocalist who performed in choir as a child, but the soon-to-be soul star had yet to record her first song (“I was [at] zero”). And while the sound of West Africa is ruled by dancey Afrobeats, Tems grew up on Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Destiny’s Child, R&B divas who create huge, heart-stopping moments out of their songs. That’s what she was aiming for.
“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,” she declares. “I really want to feel it in my chest! I want to feel sad, I want to feel happy, I want to feel motivated.”
When Tems struggled to find a producer early on who could match her feeling without pushing her into other genres like Afrobeats, she answered uncertainty with self-sufficiency. She learned to produce and engineer her music entirely herself by watching YouTube tutorials for on-the-spot direction: “Every time I stay true to myself, it just always goes right. It’s just always pure.”
Much like early tracks off her impressive EPs — 2020’s For Broken Ears and 2021’s If Orange Was A Place — Tems wrote, produced and engineered most of Born In The Wild herself. Even when she tried working with co-writers throughout the process, she gained the most clarity from her own freestyling, forging lessons out of the rapid changes in her life. Tems puts this resolution simply: “I felt like for my first album, it should be me.”
Across 18 tracks, the R&B trailblazer’s epiphanies spring from stories of loss and personal growth. “Love Me Jeje,” the spontaneous result of a night out with her girls that reimagines a 90s Afrosoul classic, lands early in the tracklist and purposely flirts with Afropop, leaning into what Tems says was expected of her when she started making music.
She counters this bouncy dedication to Lagos with mid-tempo R&B heaters fit for a foggy walk around London — “Burning,” “Forever” and the highlight, “Unfortunate,” a send-off to an ex-lover that’s as seething as it is sweet. “It’s not even like I’m judging you because I’m not perfect,” she says of the ex in question. “But it’s great that you showed me you are this person so I can give you space, you need to grow. You need to get that growth going.”
The LP burns brightest when Tems leans into her highs and lows. On “Wickedest,” Tems sings, “Yeah, I’m one that got the scene banging / And I go hard that’s why they keep talking,” a moment of assuming her position as a leader among her peers. This is a role she’s getting more comfortable with as more African acts hail her for opening the door in global markets. “I knew what I was doing was going to change something, but I just didn’t know how it would manifest,” she says of her work being a catalyst. On “Hold On,” one of the most poignant tracks on the offering, she sends a love letter to her younger self for making it through her darkest moments before that tipping point.
“It was night in my life for so long that I just thought it was never coming,” she remembers. “Things were always going wrong in my life from the moment I was born. You know, I was actually born in candlelight. Like, there was no electricity when my mom gave birth to me. Then my life did a 360 from that leap I took, from that one decision to quit my job… I think if anyone feels how I felt at the time, hold on.”
By delivering a debut on her own terms that soars far outside of the bounds of genre, Tems has found the wings she didn’t know she had.
Transcript :
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Nigerian singer Tems has emerged as a global star. You might know her through her collaborations with Beyonce, Drake and Rihanna. Today, she releases her debut album, “Born In The Wild.” And she told NPR Music reporter Sidney Madden her music career began with an agonizing decision.
SIDNEY MADDEN, BYLINE: Tems makes a great case for quitting.
TEMS: I took a leap. Like, I jumped off the cliff.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ESSENCE”)
TEMS: (Singing) I feel it coming. Time is of the essence. I tried to teach you.
MADDEN: Before the Nigerian-born singer-songwriter was one of the most distinctive voices in R&B, just the idea of a life in music felt worlds beyond her reach. Back in 2018, Tems was working a job in marketing that she knew was a dead end. She felt a calling to do something else.
TEMS: I didn’t know whether I would get wings. I didn’t know whether anybody would pick me up. I just jumped.
MADDEN: Her boss at the time was less than supportive.
TEMS: She was like, if you’re not careful, I’ll fire you. And I was like, actually, this is the best time to say that I want to quit. And I was just like, I’m going to sing. She was livid. Like, sing? Huh? And then I just, like, started crying. I was like, I just have to because this is what I’ve been called to do, and I just have to do it. It’s now or never.
MADDEN: But even through the tears, Tems knew she made the right decision.
TEMS: I left the room shaking, but I felt relieved. Like, OK, now I’m starting my real life.
MADDEN: That meant starting over from scratch, though, because at the time of her resignation, Tems hadn’t even made her first song yet. She just knew what she wanted to make.
TEMS: I think music is meant to make you feel something.
MADDEN: The sound of West Africa is ruled by the dance-driven Afrobeat scene. What Tems was aiming for was slow-burning alternative soul. She grew up on Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, R&B divas with soaring vocals who create huge heart-stopping moments.
TEMS: A lot of music now is for utility. It doesn’t necessarily make you feel something, but I want to feel it in my chest. Like, I want to feel sad. I want to feel happy. I want to feel motivated.
MADDEN: In Lagos, finding a producer who could match that feeling without pushing her into the Afrobeats lane was hard. So Tems spent hours on YouTube learning how to produce and engineer music herself.
TEMS: Every time I stay in tune myself, it just always goes right. It’s just always pure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “TRY ME”)
TEMS: (Singing) So why you wanna try me? Yeah, try me. You’re out to destroy me, destroy me. You’re trying to challenge me, challenge me. You’re trying to distract me, distract me.
MADDEN: This purity of feeling in her songwriting, matched with the richness of her vocals, became her signature, one that the entire world heard in 2020. Her chorus on “Essence,” a song by fellow Nigerian star Wizkid, made the track an undeniable hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ESSENCE”)
TEMS: (Singing) You don’t need no other body. You don’t need no other body. Only you fi hold my body.
MADDEN: Since then, Tems has earned Grammy and Oscar nominations and has become a leader for women in the African music space. And now, all those years after shaking in her boss’s office, Tems’ bet on herself is paying off in full with her full-length debut album, “Born In The Wild.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BORN IN THE WILD”)
TEMS: (Singing) It’s all over the news, all over the news, I noticed. Under the sun, struggling to find my focus. When I was young, young and dumb, my mind was always running away.
MADDEN: What does it mean to be born in the wild?
TEMS: It means to be fighting for survival. It means to learn how to have soft skin and to be comfortable in uncertainty.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BORN IN THE WILD”)
TEMS: (Singing) Born in the wild. Born in the wild. Born in the wild. Born in the wild.
MADDEN: Just like the early tracks that got her noticed, Tems wrote, produced and engineered most of this debut herself.
TEMS: I tried to get writers for this album. I really tried. I worked with, like, maybe four writers, and I just ended up not using the stuff that they did ’cause I know myself so well. It feels weird for me to sing another person’s lyrics that I don’t relate to.
MADDEN: “Born In The Wild” shows off that personal growth. Tems flirts with Afropop on “Love Me JeJe.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LOVE ME JEJE”)
TEMS: (Singing) Day and night, it’s unconditional. Got me living softly. Yeah, yeah. Love me jeje. Love me tender. You know your love turn me up like NEPA. Anything you want, and I’ma do whatever.
MADDEN: On “Unfortunate,” she sends off a lover who’s shown her too many red flags and does it so sweetly, she reframes the breakup almost as a positive.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “UNFORTUNATE”)
TEMS: (Singing) Anything you wanna say might as well be thrown away. Guess it’s time to make your way, way.
And it’s not even like I’m judging you because I’m not perfect, but it’s great that you showed me that you are this person so I can give you space. You need to grow. You need to get that growth going.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “UNFORTUNATE”)
TEMS: (Singing) And maybe it’s fortunate you’re unfortunate. Yeah, maybe it’s fortunate you’re unfortunate.
MADDEN: And she sends a love letter to her younger self on the poignant “Hold On.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HOLD ON”)
TEMS: (Singing) This is for the girl in thе dark. This is for the one trying to make it right. This is for the onе waiting for the sunrise. This is for the one with a voice inside.
Things were always going wrong in my life from moment I was born. You know, I was actually born in candlelight. Like, there was no electricity when my mom gave birth to me. It was night in my life for so long that, like, I just thought it was never coming. And then my life did a 360 from that leap I took from that one decision to quit my job. I think if anyone feels like how I felt at the time, I think, yeah, hold on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HOLD ON”)
TEMS: (Singing) Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
MADDEN: After years of holding on herself, Tems has finally found those wings she didn’t know she had.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FREE FALL”)
TEMS: (Singing) Hopeless in the moment. I free fall straight into you.
MADDEN: Sidney Madden, NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FREE FALL”)
TEMS: (Singing) I don’t know if I can fight what you do in my mind. More and more, I collide with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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