Notion 89: TEMS

It was New Year’s Eve in 2017 when singer-songwriter Tems read a devotional about taking the leap of faith. At the time, two degrees in economics and a stint in the corporate world had left her sleeping on her then-secret musical potential. “I just knew that I needed to quit my job that day. So I did. January 2018,” she sighs. Her breakout single, “Mr Rebel’, landed just five months later.

The artist’s breakthrough moment had been in the works since a music teacher at school had spotted her vocal talents and encouraged her to pursue them. “Making songs was always something that flowed so naturally. It just gave me joy, and I was always drawn to it,” Tems says. “I had a piano and guitar at home, and I would just sit down and express myself.”

The past three years have seen her rise with a steady stream of hits, including a feature with Khalid and Disclosure which propelled her beyond her native Nigeria. As Afrobeats music has fallen into the limelight, Tems has joined a selection of African musicians taking centre stage in the Western music scene. In recent news, she features alongside fellow Nigerian artist WizKid in a soulful track “Essence”. But there’s one thing that she’d like to clear up about the genre:

“There’s more to African music than ‘Afrobeats’ lets on. People will put the Afrobeats label on anything that comes out of Africa, but most of what we hear is a multicultural fusion — an evolution of the original genre. There are so many sounds in Africa, and that’s something I want to demonstrate with my music.”

Her 2020 debut EP, For Broken Ears, embodies this sentiment through seven tracks and a whole gamut of feels — heartbreak ballads, buttery melodies, and dancehall rhythms that leave you no choice but to dance.

Sound is something she approaches with integrity, both a resolve to stay true to herself and a will against her music being indexed by any genre or assumption. It was a conscious decision that her own life — a whirlwind as of late — would be her greatest inspiration. “I found my sound in finding myself,” Tems explains. “There was a time when I intentionally stopped looking to other artists for inspiration, and that was when I gained confidence in my songwriting. I don’t want to think about how anyone else would do what I’m doing. I’m an individual and I have my own sound and I’m on a mission to discover that.”

Over captivating rhythms, Tems carries an unmistakable, seamless alto, which she tends to with regular vocal training. But it’s also a resounding testament of her cool-headedness, the source of which I’m keen to find out. “The saying ‘be true to yourself’ is probably overused, but people don’t realise what it really means. It means that it doesn’t matter how big you become, or how crazy it gets. You have to be yourself,” Tems insists. “In the beginning, I lived alone and I was my own manager for an entire year” — even for months after the success of “Mr Rebel”, she adds. “It made me realise that nobody knows what they’re doing, so you can’t depend on other people’s opinions.”

I’d heard through the grapevine that Tems was a perfectionist, but today she corrects me: She’s a recovering perfectionist. “Yeah, I’m trying to let that go,” she laughs. “I do the best I can for the song, instead of for myself.” Since her days of self-producing, her creative process has had quite the glow up. With more visibility and popularity the stakes are higher, but the process is still sacred. “It’s still very organic. I don’t let people bring pressure to my creative space. I tell them to leave it at the door. I have a producer now, and it’s kind of a freestyle thing. We don’t get to the studio and say ‘Today we’re going to make a hit’. I don’t put a cap on it.”

I gather her spontaneous approach has paid off. This year Tems has surprised herself with the range of her new music, and she assures us that her upcoming projects are unlike anything she’s done before. She’s years wiser and she’s bringing it all to the table.

It takes business acumen to rise within an industry that is known to be a maze full of young bright things. “The company you keep makes a whole difference. Finding your tribe — the people who understand your perspective, and people who are pure of heart — is rare,” Tems reflects. “Most people in the industry are here for themselves, looking for human ladders to help them rise in the ranks.” For the young talents who might not know any better, the music industry can be an exploitative game. But as she claims her space at the top, Tems makes it clear that she prizes her intuition above anything else. “It’s so important for aspiring artists to know who they are. Know your values, your limits, your motivations. If you were doing what you’re doing now in 30 years, would you feel fulfilled? Don’t do it because it looked good on someone else. Ask yourself: ‘If I was making no money from this, and if nobody knew who I was, would I still want to do this?’ If the answer is yes, then go for it. Be ready to go to war for it.” Wisdom if I ever heard it.

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