Tems

Tems Dances Her Way Through The Streets Of Lagos In The ‘Crazy Tings’ Video

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The rise of Tems in 2021 is real. The Nigerian-born singer has had a sensational year so far, being featured on “Fountains” off of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and on fellow Nigerian Wizkid’s “Essence,” which also got a remix treatment later on that featured Justin Bieber, and then totally slayed her performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month. Go ahead and file those as surefire ways to raise your profile and then add in her own excellent EP, If Orange Was A Place, which dropped last month, and she’s cooking.

Today, the video for the opening track off of If Orange Was A Place is out and it shows Tems moving through the streets of her native Lagos like an absolute boss. She weaves around the lives of locals going through the ups and downs of life with the confidence of someone who’s rising above the mess, as she delivers the stoic hook over an African drum-studded beat: “Crazy things are happening / Crazy things are happening / If you need somebody craze / You fit chop somebody’s craze.”

Her delivery is silky smooth, but it’s Tems’ unique appeal across styles that flows naturally from her tongue. She told The Guardian in September that she grew up loving artists like Kate Nash, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Paramore, Outkast, and Green Day, and it’s that eclectic palette that inspired her sublime singular output.

Watch the video for “Crazy Tings” above.

If Orange Was A Place is out now via Since ‘93/RCA Records.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Tems Proves To Be Worth The Wait

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Getty Image/Ralph Ordaz

It’s usually a good sign for an artist’s career when their concert in a major metropolis sells so many tickets that it has to be moved to a new — and larger — venue at the last minute. It’s probably also a good sign that despite the change of venue, the line wrapped around the block before the doors opened. The last opportune omen is the fact that those people in line patiently waited over 2 hours past the initial doors time for those doors to open and stuck it out through a show that lasted until well after midnight.

With all those tenets in mind, it looks very much like Nigerian Afrobeats/R&B singer Tems is already a star. The Monday night LA stop on the singer’s first-ever US tour followed the above arch, starting out at The Roxy before switching to The Fonda Theatre a day before the show was to take place, which didn’t stop a legion of fans from lining up down Hollywood Boulevard, around the corner on Gower, and all the way down the street for most of the next block. Those fans certainly did wait it out, and their patience was rewarded by an impressive performance from the burgeoning star.

Tems’ opener, Amaarae, generated suitable hype for the headliner with a set that showcased her bold personality and welcoming demeanor. The opener pulled fans onstage to perform alongside her more than once and provided a lively counterpoint to the relatively lower key set that followed. Her exuberant tunes were more defiant and extroverted, whereas Tems’ set — taken from her two EPs, 2020’s For Broken Ears and last month’s If Orange Was A Place — was more internally focused and emotional.

Tems’ performance bore many of the hallmarks of a veteran performer, despite her ostensible rookie status. Framed in angelic light and wearing a flowing, translucent dressing gown, she delivered powerful vocals over renditions of “Damages,” “Free Mind,” and of course, “Essence,” the Wizkid megahit that brought Tems to national prominence. Her fans, a diverse mix of young people, many flamboyantly dressed in traditional African patterns and styles, bought into every new song in the set, despite some being relatively very new. The inevitable singalong that broke out when she launched into “Essence” — assisted by Wizkid in a surprise appearance, naturally — left the impression that she’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve on lots of future tours.

About that delay, though: It’s becoming clearer by the day that fans will be feeling the fallout from the pandemic and resulting entertainment shutdown for a while yet. So far, we’ve seen multiple examples of supply chain and logistical problems forcing artists to postpone events in just the last few weeks. Post Malone was forced to postpone Posty Fest due to supply problems, while J. Cole canceled and rescheduled a pair of shows after hours of delay because there wasn’t enough time to set up the stage as he envisioned. Although Tems didn’t specifically cite these problems, there’s little doubt that switching venues affected the production and prompted these delays.

Tems’ concert is also the second one Uproxx covered recently where a relatively new artist who’d broken out during the pandemic suddenly found that they were way more popular than projected at the last minute. Blxst’s Santa Ana tour stop, initially set for The Observatory’s smaller Constellation Room, was moved to the main stage practically the day of. The bad news is that eventually another breakout star will likely be forced to either play the smaller venue, leaving fans out, or reschedule shows as fewer venues and crew will be readily available. The good news is that these last-minute updates indicate the improving health of the industry, with tickets in high demand, and better projections for stars who couldn’t see their real-world impact as they grew their profiles mostly over the internet for the past year.

For acts like Tems, that can only be encouraging. Having to build a career in less-than-ideal conditions probably added a number of additional stressors on top the usual pressures of learning to deal with fame on the fly. But being able to see real-life rewards — particularly in respect to learning that your star has risen even higher than you (or your booking agent) could have imagined almost makes it all worth it. So, even as we all face the residual effects of the pandemic in live entertainment, for some stars and their fans, the payoff is more than worth the wait.

Wizkid And Tem’s “Essence” Is Now The First African Song To Go Platinum In The US

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Tems

Grammy award-winning singer, Wizkid, is soaring to new heights with his 2020 song, “Essence”, which features Nigerian artist, Tems. The song is now the first African song to go platinum in the US. “Essence” Goes Platinum Nigerian artistes Wizkid and Tems have received a platinum plaque for their global hit track “ Essence.” The song […]

Tems Made Her Late Night Debut With A Performance Of ‘Avoid Things’ On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

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After a massive feature on WizKid’s near-perfect “Essence” from his album Made In Lagos, Nigerian singer Tems is coming into her own. A remix of that song, which many considered to be a song of the summer in 2020, featured none other than Justin Bieber. Whenever an artist gets a co-sign like that, it definitely helps the rest of the world notice them.

The Lagos-born musician was also featured on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy for the track “Fountains” and was recently featured as one Apple’s Up Next artists. Needless to say she’s on a bit of a roll, and part of her tear of breakout moves includes an appearance on late night.

She performed “Avoid Things” on Jimmy Kimmel Live, a song off her new EP If Orange Was A Place, which came out just a few weeks ago. “I am excited for everything the future holds,” she said recently in a press release. “My team and I have been working really hard over the years, now we’re in a new season and on a higher level and things can only get better as we reach more people all over the world.”

Check out her late night appearance above and expect to see a lot more from this artist in the future.

Tems to Collab with Drake Again

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Tems

Nigerian artist Tems has been making a name for herself in the industry with her hit song with Wizkid on “Essence” and her recent collaboration on Drake’s new album “Certified Lover Boy.” The artist has no plans of slowing down as another album is in the works next year, with another Drake feature. Drake A […]

Nigerian Singer Tems Details Her Rise To Stardom In A New Documentary

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Lagos-born singer Tems has seen a meteoric rise over the past year in the wake of the release of her September EP, For Broken Ears. Since then, she’s received co-signs from one of her home country’s biggest stars, Wizkid, appearing on his summer-of-2021 single “Essence” and its remix with Justin Bieber, and of perennially precognitive talent scout Drake, landing a feature on “Fountains” from his new album Certified Lover Boy.

Now, she’s been selected as Apple Music’s latest Up Next artist, just in time to commemorate the release of her newest EP If Orange Was A Place, released Tuesday via Since ’93 and RCA Records. The five-song release includes the song “Found” with American R&B counterpart Brent Faiyaz (a rising star in his own right) and showcases her unique vocals, songwriting, and production style. She relates the album to “the feeling of sunset and the sweetness of an orange” in its description on Apple Music and delves into the impact her oncoming stardom has had on her in both the documentary and an insightful interview with Apple Music’s Nadeska, which you can watch below.

Watch the trailer for Tems’ Apple Music Up Next documentary up top and catch the full video (and listen to the new EP) here.

DaBaby Unloads Quick-Fire Raps Over Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ For A New Remix And Fans Are Not Happy

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Prior to a month ago, DaBaby had his eyes set on new music he planned to deliver to his fans. The rapper promised a new album was on the way, but all of that became an afterthought when he unleashed a homophobic rant targeted at individuals with HIV/AIDS during July’s Rolling Loud festival in Miami. Since then, DaBaby has found himself in a string of controversial moments and it continues with the release of his latest track.

On Tuesday, the North Carolina rapper delivers a remix of Wizkid and Tems’ summer hit, “Essence.” His take of the track completely alters the song’s original nature as Wizkid and Tems’ relaxed vocals are replaced by DaBaby’s quick-fire raps. He also uses the track to address the recent criticism he’s faced since his Rolling Loud rant. “I just feel like, you know, when situations like this present themselves, man,” he says on the track. “And people try to, you know, assassinate your character, man / And assassinate who you are, man / And everything you put that hard work in for, man.” He adds, “Sometimes you gotta demonstrate, you know, that’s how I came here / And I don’t mind demonstratin’ / I don’t mind exercisin’, you dig what I’m sayin’?”

The remix arrives after it was reported that DaBaby met with nine HIV/AIDS organizations after his Rolling Loud. As for the remix itself, most fans were not too happy with it and they took to Twitter to share their displeasures.

You can listen to his “Essence” remix in the video above and read the responses from fans below.

Wizkid Invites Justin Bieber Into The Afrobeats World For A Remix Of ‘Essence’ With Tems

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Wizkid’s mainstream appeal has noticeably increased since the afro-fusion star dropped his stellar fourth album Made In Lagos last fall. The project saw the singer work with big names like H.E.R., Ella Mai, Burna Boy, and Skepta, but the album’s most popular song came through an unexpected collaboration with fellow afro-fusion singer Tems on “Essence.” The track has grown to not only run in contention for song of the summer this year, but it’s also the highest-charting African song ever, as it peaked at No. 54 on the singles chart this past week. Now, the song is due for a huge boost thanks to a new remix.

Wizkid and Tems invite Justin Bieber into the “Essence” experience for a brand new remix of the track. While some fans felt the collaboration was a bit inorganic, Wizkid and Bieber are paying no mind to the comments, showing each other love on social media. “Thank u for letting me jump on the song of the summer,” Bieber wrote in a Twitter post that announced the remix. In his own post, Wizkid wrote, “I promised you something special. @temsbaby & @justinbieber on da way.”

In another post, Wizkid teased more music on the way for fans. “Made In Lagos Deluxe,” he wrote on Twitter.

Press play on the remix to “Essence” in the video above.

Made In Lagos is out now via Starboy Entertainment/RCA. Get it here.

Wizkid And Tems Value The ‘Essence’ Of Intimacy In Their Vibrant New Video

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Last fall, Wizkid released his fourth album, Made In Lagos and it quickly grew to be a favorite out of the projects released during the 2020 portion of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the global circumstances may have prevented its enjoyment to the fullest, as a good listen in the summer sun would’ve made the experience even better. However, with the summer just around the corner again, Made In Lagos could finally receive that moment and the Nigerian afro-fusion star reminds fans of the album’s beauty with a vibrant visual for “Essence.”

Backed by an excellent contribution from Nigerian singer Tems, the two head over to the motherland for the new video. The singers flaunt the brightest of colors as they sing about the intimacy and close connection they seek between themselves and their partners. Wizkid rides around the neighborhood with a pair of women beside, both who seem infatuated with the singer, while Tems takes to the comfort of her home to sing her captivating verse.

The visual arrives after Wizkid earned his first-every Grammy Award as a result of he is contribution to Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” track, an effort that also gave Saint John and Blue Ivy their first Grammy wins. The “Essence” video is also the fourth from the Made In Lagos, with “Smile,” “No Stress,” and “Ginger” being the other videos to receive the visual treatment.

Watch the “Essence” in the video above.