Over the years, the Nigerian music industry has been touted as a male-dominated industry. Truly, the male artists get more coverage than their female colleagues, dominating billboard charts and getting international collaborations. But Temilade ‘Tems‘ Openiyi is changing that narrative with her giant strides in the music industry and her path to global domination.
Nigerian female sensation popularly known by her stage name, Tems has been in the news for one reason or the other, related to her music since she dropped her hit track ‘Try Me’ in 2019. Since then, she has continued dishing out hot tunes to her fans home and abroad.
From the artist who struggled with finding a record label to sign her, to an artist who is now making a global statement with her music, it is safe to say Tems is inspiring upcoming female artists to reach for the sky.
“Things are changing for sure. I think more women are believing in themselves, I think more women are coming out and realising that they can do it.”
For an artist like Tems who broke into the spotlight in 2019, how did she do it, what are the collaborations that pushed her and what milestones has she reached so far?
Major Collaborations
Over the years, different artists and a follow-up of their growth has shown that collaborations does help a lot. With Tems, that fact is solidified.
In 2021, she was featured on ‘Essence,’ a song of Wizkid’s album, ‘Made in Lagos.’ She got to perform the song alongside the Nigerian superstar at several occasions as well, including a performance at the 02 Arena during Wizkid’s concert.
Also, she was featured on Drake’s ‘Fountain’ in 2021 off the ‘Certified Lover Boy’ album.
She has kicked off 2022 with great energy as well with two international collaborations, one where she was featured on Future’s ‘Wait For U’ track off the ‘I Never Liked You’ album, and also a feature with Beyonce on ‘Move’ off the ‘Reinassance’ album.
These collaborations have gone a long way in pushing Tems on the global stage, making her name known to a wider audience.
Grammy Nomination
Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ featuring Tems and Justin Bieber made waves and it has a Grammy nomination to prove that. This gave Tems her entry into the Grammy nomination not very long after her first hit track.
This was an unusual feat for an artist that is just starting her career, but Tems positioned herself for it, delivering an incredible verse that made the song pop.
The song was nominated at the 64th GRAMMY Awards in the ‘Best Global Music Performance’ category.
Billboard Charts Entries
The Nigerian singer is currently topping US Billboard Hot 100 chart and is the first African artist to have five entries on the global chart. She is also the Nigerian with the most entries.
Her recent feature on a song with Beyonce titled ‘Move’ holds the 55th position on the chart as at 13, August, 2022.
Also, other songs she’s being featured on like Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ remix peaked at 9th on the chart while Drake’s ‘Fountains’ peaked at 26th. ‘Wait For U’ featuring Future & Drake peaked at the 1st position on the chart.
While she has all these going for her, she’s had her first solo entry recently with her 2020 single ‘Free Mind’ at 90th on the chart, making it a total of five songs.
Prior to this, she was on a four-entry tie with Wizkid but has now surpassed the Afropop singer.
Conclusion
Tems is making waves globally and we love to see that for her. It’s not enough to have talent but to have your talent acknowledged by an audience that seriously root for you is a whole different feeling.
If not for anything, her success in the music industry should inspire a new troop of female artists to do better with their craft.