“It’s Like Being In A Zoo’ Tems Speaks On How She Deals With Her Fame

Temilade Openiyi, professionally known as Tems, a Grammy award-winning Nigerian singer and composer, has spoken up about the problems that come with fame and success, as well as why she transitioned from Afrobeats to RnB.
She discusses a variety of issues with American rapper Kendrick Lamar in an interview published in the most recent issue of Interview Magazine.

Tems remarked that success often comes with demands and obstacles, but she tries to overcome them by being herself.
The renowned musician also spoke about her love of RnB and how she had abandoned Afrobeats in favour of it. Her stated intention in using the R&B genre was to deliver a message.

She added that everyone she had sought for advice on her chosen professional route had advised her to pursue Afrobeats instead.
Tems went on to claim that even after receiving the advise, she didn’t give up because her main goal was not to make money.
She stated,

“When you become more known or seen, it’s very easy to get caught up in, “What do people expect of me now?” But for me, it’s like, “What do I expect of myself now?” Because you’re the one that has to live with yourself, the one that has to sleep with the decisions that you make. Trusting yourself is so key, and I’m not going to stop trusting my guts just because people can see me now. It’s like being in a zoo. The animals don’t change their behavior just because you’re looking at them. They’re always going to be who they are. So why should I change?

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 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.”