Top rated Nigerian singer and song writer Temilade Openiyi a.k.a Tems, made the cover of Dazed magazine and has spoke how music has made her more outgoing and where she is going in the future.
Free thinking Tems has won international acclaims with her songs including ‘Lift me up’ done by Rihanna, a sound track in Black Panther 2.
“Technically, my career has taken me out of my comfort zone and made me into a more outgoing person,” she said.
“But I wasn’t thinking about how to be better in the limelight, I was just thinking of how to be a better person in general, the best possible version of myself.
And I think once you start being visible, a lot of these things that you didn’t know existed start coming to light, you start knowing yourself more, too.”
Tems added that with her work she hopes more African women will do amazing things.
“What I’m trying to do,” she said, “or what I hope that God does through me, is for the image of the African woman to be [changed] to something luxurious, or desired, or sought after.
“For the demand of the African woman to go up… Let us not be chasing foreign things, let us be something to be chased. And that can’t just happen with me; it’s a together thing.
“ It has to happen with a whole industry of women already doing real and amazing things. That’s the future.”
She reminded fans on Twitter handle that she wasn’t their saviour after they some her followers criticised her songs and lifestyle.
She wrote, “I don’t know who needs to hear this but I am not your Christian saviour. I didn’t come here to uphold your beliefs about God.
“I will not fit into this box you try to put me in. I won’t satisfy you in that area please find the person that will. Or ask yourself why you care”.