“You already know I preserve it regular,” Tems croons on new observe “Get It Proper”. The Nigerian star, 28, stays true to her phrase on her debut album, Born within the Wild – a clean trip via hazy, brooding songs crafted in her signature Afrobeats sound.
4 years since she broke via with “Strive Me”, the ballad to harmful love that she self-produced whereas learning economics in South Africa, the artist born Temilade Openiyi is resolutely assured in her personal attract. No shock, actually, when an opportunity encounter with Adele ended with the British star serenading Tems along with her personal tune. Drake and Rihanna are followers, too.
In distinction to her heat, freewheeling vocal supply, Tems’ lyrics show an impatience for poisonous time-wasters. Lots of the songs right here serve both as gospels to comply with or warning photographs to those that may wish to deliver her down. She’s assertive on “Wickedest”, reminding herself of her personal energy whereas reflecting on the early days of her success: “Yeah I’m the one acquired the scene banging/ And I’m going arduous that’s why they preserve speaking/ Three years and I’m solely simply getting began.” A playful nod to 50 Cent’s “Sweet Store” compounds her rap stream on late standout “T-Unit”, whereas she retains it mild with R&B and Latin inflections on J Cole collaboration “Free Fall”.
Elsewhere, her teenage love of British pop singer Kate Nash filters via on “Boy O Boy”. Over a easy acoustic riff, Tems sighs her exasperation with a lover in meandering, stream-of-consciousness style: “Typically I wish to strangle you.” The languorous and dreamy “Prepared” performs out over little clusters of percussion and sultry thrums of bass. Well-known followers can be enamoured by “Burning”, on which Tems touches on the trimmings of celeb with a sweetly plaintive innocence. It’s a recurring theme – if additionally unsurprising, given the speed with which her star has ascended. However as assured as she sounds, the musician nonetheless welcomes the recommendation of family and friends, comparable to on the album interlude “Voices in My Head”.
A debut this assured is uncommon however, then, Tems evidently is an all-or-nothing form of artist. Simply as her lyrics present her turning away from romantic distractions (she craves actual connection), so, too, do her songs make it clear that she’s in it for the lengthy haul. And after a month of headline-dominating pop releases that appeared to vanish virtually as dramatically as they arrived (Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande, for instance), Tems has put out a document that would outlast all of them.
