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“You know I keep it steady,” Tems croons on new track “Get It Right”. The Nigerian star, 28, stays true to her word on her debut album, Born in the Wild – a smooth ride through hazy, brooding songs crafted in her signature Afrobeats sound. Four years since she broke through with “Try Me”, the ballad to destructive love that she self-produced while studying economics in South Africa, the artist born Temilade Openiyi is resolutely confident in her own allure.

No surprise, really, when a chance encounter with Adele ended with the British star serenading Tems with her own song. Drake and Rihanna are fans, too. In contrast to her warm, freewheeling vocal delivery, Tems’ lyrics demonstrate an impatience for toxic time-wasters.



Many of the songs here serve either as gospels to follow or warning shots to those who might want to bring her down. She’s assertive on “Wickedest”, reminding herself of her own power while reflecting on the early days of her success: “Yeah I’m the one got the scene banging/ And I go hard that’s why they keep talking/ Three years and I’m only just getting started.” A playful nod to 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” compounds her rap flow on late standout “T-Unit”, while she keeps it light with R&B and Latin inflections on J Cole collaboration “Free Fall”.

Elsewhere, her teenage love of British pop singer Kate Nash filters through on “Boy O Boy”. Over a simple acoustic riff, Tems sighs her exasperation with a lover in mea.

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