Tems, a young Nigerian singer and songwriter, has shared how unwanted attention affected her confidence and approach to her craft as she navigated the music industry..

Battling distraction and misconceptions

Tems explained in an interview that early in her career, she would often go to recording studios alone, determined to learn and produce music without interference..

“I used to not always like my body, crazy as it seems, but I just didn’t understand a lot of things,” she said.

“I was going to a lot of studios alone, meeting people I have never met, people we don’t know each other. I’ll message people and tell them I’ve been working on this, I want to share this because I know I have something. I wanted to learn how to produce because of my objectives, which is I just want to make music. I don’t really care about politics or anything here, I just want to learn.”

Protecting her focus

Tems said her strategy involved dressing in baggy clothes and adopting an “alpha mood” to avoid unwanted advances while ensuring her professionalism was clear.

“If me being attractive is disturbing you and stopping me from achieving my goal, I’m going to help you. So when I go to the studio, I wear baggy clothes and I’m in my alpha mood because I want you to not be seduced by me… but most of the time it works because they can tell she’s just here to work and we work.”

Breaking norms in Nigerian music

The singer added that her approach allowed her to focus on music that was unconventional in Nigeria, paving the way for her unique sound.

“It’s unheard of to do this type of music as a Nigerian in Nigeria,” she said.