Hailing from Nigeria, singer, songwriter and producer Tems (real name Temilade Openiyi) blends West African alté and neo-soul. She grew up heavily influenced by a mix of Nigerian and Western music, having spunDestiny’s Child, Lil Wayne and Aaliyah on her Walkman when growing up. But at the age of 15, she stopped listening to music all together to find her own sound and hone her craft.

The first introduction to her smooth mix of reggae, soul and R&B was 2018’s ‘Mr Rebel’, which cemented Tems firmly as one to watch. Each single that’s followed, from the alt-R&B dance groove of ‘Damages’ to ‘Crazy Tings” old-school reggae throwback, has shown her genre-ignoring, reinventing approach to music. Her most recent EP ‘If Orange Was A Place’ glides between softer emotional rawness in ‘Found’, and up-tempo alté fun with ‘Replay’s playful horn section. 

As well as her own releases, she’s featured on several high-profile collaborationsthat led her to be listed in Barack Obama’s favourite music of 2020.She teamed up with afrobeats superstar WizKid for his sensual track ‘Essence’, the first Nigerian song ever to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and earnt her a Grammy nomination. She also joined Drake for ‘Fountains’, which skips around piano-based afrobeats instrumentation, and Khalid and Disclosure for their electro-R&B hit ‘Know Your Worth’.