Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has said Nigerians do not understand her music.
She said she is unsure if her compatriots appreciate her
music but feels appreciated as a person by Nigerians.
The Oscar-nominated musician stated this in the teaser of
the upcoming episode of ‘Flow with Korty.’
“Nigerians don’t understand my music, I don’t know if they
appreciate my music but I feel appreciated as a person by Nigerians,” she said.
“It is unheard of to do my type of music as a Nigerian in
Nigeria.”
Tems also said she is not interested in being a sex symbol,
stressing that she is in the music industry to “work.”
The R&B crooner said, “I used to not always like my
body. If my being attractive is disturbing you, I will help you. So I go to
studios in baggy clothes and my alpha mode, I want you not to be seduced by
me.”
The ‘Love Me Jeje’ crooner also opened up about being
constantly misunderstood and bullied because of her reserved nature and how she
handled it.
“Everything I did seemed to annoy everybody. They would say,
‘Why are you so slow? Why are you talking so slow? Talk like you are alive.’
And I would say, ‘You are very stupid. Are you crazy?’ I was upset all the
time,” she said.
Tems recently unveiled the tracklist for her highly
anticipated debut album titled ‘Born In The Wild’, scheduled to be released on
June 7.
In the 18-track album, Tems enlists Asake, the Afrobeats
star, and J. Cole, the US rapper.
The tracks in the album consist of ‘Born In The Wild’,
‘Special Baby’, ‘Burning’, ‘Wickedest’, ‘Love Me Jeje’, ‘Get It Right’,
‘Ready’, and ‘Gangsta’.
Other tracks are ‘Unfortunate’, ‘Boy o Boy’, ‘Forever’,
‘Free Fall’, ‘Voices In My Head’, ‘Turn Me Up’, ‘Me & U’, ‘T-Unit’, ‘You In
My Face’, and ‘Hold On’.
Tems had previously put out two songs off the album — ‘Me
& U’ and ‘Love Me Jeje’.
The singer released her self-produced debut single ‘Mr
Rebel’ in 2018 and then followed it with ‘Try Me’, her 2019 hit song.
Tems had earlier revealed how a “serious illness” forced her
to delay the release of her debut album.