Why I chose not to do Afrobeats – Tems

Ace Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi aka Tems, has said she was prepared to face grave consequences when she left the country’s popular genre, Afrobeats to do R&B.

Tems said she when she made the decision to dump Afrobeats, she so much believed in herself that she didn’t bother if she never become “anything or anyone”.

She made the statement in a chat with American rapper, Kendrick Lamar, published in the latest volume of Interview Magazine.

According to the ‘Try’ hit maker, she just wanted to get a message out even if only 10 people listened to the her songs, and that was all that mattered to her.

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.”

The songstress recalled how everyone she asked for advice 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 Grammy-winning singer said she refused to give up because money was not her goal. She added that she is “chasing a frequency.”