Before They Blew: Tems

Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems baby, is a phenomenal singer, songwriter, and producer. 

But who was Tems before the spotlight? She was just a girl in Chevron, Lagos quietly building her world one song and one beat at a time. She loved books, art and when she wasn’t making music, she was writing poetry.

Her voice is unlike anything we’ve ever heard before.

But before the world tuned in, she was a young woman with big feelings and even bigger dreams.

Born and raised in Lagos, Temilade always stood out, not because she wanted attention, but because she couldn’t hide her light even if she tried.

Tems left Nigeria for university, studying Economics in South Africa. A practical route, though it never truly set her soul on fire.

After graduating, she briefly worked as a digital marketer. A 9–5, a stable routine, but if you know Tems, you know that couldn’t last.

In her quiet Chevron apartment, Tems produced her own music; beats, vocals and ideas from scratch.

She didn’t wait for a big label or a perfect studio. She built with what she had.

While the Nigerian music sphere thrived on Afrobeats party anthems, Tems crafted something different, soulful, raw, and deeply rooted.

Her voice lingered long after the music ended.

In 2019, she released “Try Me,” the track that shifted everything.

The song wasn’t flashy or loud. It was powerful.

“Try Me” carried vulnerability, rebellion, and grace in one breath.

The underground buzz grew until the world had to listen because Tems had arrived.

After Try Me, Tems didn’t slow down. She kept building. She released two deeply personal EPs: For Broken Ears and If Orange Was a Place. Both projects felt like pages from a diary, unfiltered and emotional. Her sound remained honest, tender, and a little rebellious.

Then came the kind of moment that doesn't feel real until it happens.

Tems was featured on Beyoncé’s “Move”. Yes, Beyoncé. For someone who had been creating music quietly just a few years earlier, it was almost surreal. She later shared that it made her feel seen in a way she hadn’t expected. After all the slow, silent building, her work was finally speaking loud enough for the world to hear. And the world was listening.

Then came Essence with Wizkid.

That song didn’t just go viral. It redefined what global Afrobeats could sound like.

Tems carried the soul of the track. Her voice in the chorus made people stop mid-scroll and ask, “Who is that?”

And just when it felt like she had peaked, she kept rising. She landed on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She co-wrote “Lift Me Up” for Rihanna. She earned a Grammy. She got an Oscar nomination.

But even with all those accolades, the real magic is in how she started.

A girl with a quiet room, a laptop, and a voice she refused to water down.

Before all of that,Tems was a girl chasing joy.

She once shared she had been angry at the world until she stopped waiting for peace and decided to create her own.

“If you focus stubbornly and fight for what you believe in, you can discover a world of beauty in the midst of chaos, even if it takes a while.”

That is exactly what she did. She believed her voice, words, and sound were enough.

The choice she made changed everything.

Before she blew, she was already an artist, a fighter, and her full self, simply waiting for the world to catch up.