“I Had To Shed My Old Habits”- Tems On How Music Changed Her Life

• Tems, a Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, reflects on her life changes due to her music career.
• Before her rise to fame, she identified as “hyper-independent” and tended to push people away.
• Her journey as an artist has encouraged her to be more open and vulnerable.

Grammy-winning Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has spoken about how becoming an artist has changed her life.

The 31-year-old revealed that before her music career took off, she was “hyper-independent” and often pushed people away. However, she said her journey as an artist has helped her become more open, vulnerable, and emotionally expressive without feeling strange about it.

Speaking in a recent interview with Doose Of Society, Tems said:

“Being an artist has changed my life. There are a lot of people that know me. It made me grow, I had to shed a lot of habits that were holding me back one of those things was my hyper-independency and the thing I do where I push people away.”

She added:

“I have now learned to embrace love and just be open, and be free to give love and be vulnerable without feeling odd.”

Tems began her music career in 2018 with her debut single Mr Rebel after quitting her job.

Her big break came in 2020 after her feature on Wizkid’s global hit Essence, which introduced her to a wider international audience.

Since then, she has worked with major global artists including Drake, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, and J. Cole, and has also won two Grammy Awards. She recently set a record as the first Nigerian artist to surpass 40 million monthly streams on Spotify.