Glamsquad Magazine March 2023

REPORTAGE “ “It’s incredible. I get to work with people that, five years ago, were on my playlist. You know, I was jamming with them, and now I’m working with them. It’s such a pleasure, and I feel like this is just the beginning,” 20 www.glamsquadmagazine.com

REPORTAGE from the EP became another follow-up hit to “Try Me,” peaking at number one on the Nigerian Apple Music chart and number six on the thennewly launched TurnTable Top 50 chart and garnering five million views on YouTube. Impressive as her past projects were, it was her appearance on WizKid’s 2020 single Essence that helped propel her to global prominence when the song reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart after the release of a remixed version with an additional feature from Justin Bieber, and earned her a Grammy nomination. The track was dubbed the song of the summer and introduced to a global audience. For the Grammy awardscene amid stereotypes in the creative space. When the nominees for the <strong>2023</strong> Grammy were announced on November 15, 2022, many Nigerian music aficionados were happy that Tems was on the list. The 27-year-old Nigerian singer, however, made history on 5th February <strong>2023</strong>, after becoming the first Nigerian female artist to win a Grammy. However, others argue that the first Nigerian female singer to achieve the feat was British- Nigerian singer Sade, whose real name is Helen Folasade Adu. She has won the award four times. Tems won the Best Melodic Rap Performance category for her contribution to the hit song Wait for U with Future and Drake. She was nominated in a category that had heavy music weights like Latto (“Big Energy (Live),” Jack Harlow (“First Class”), Kendrick Lamar (“Die Hard”), and DJ Khalid. For Tems, her rise to the top can only be described as phenomenal, given that she started music professionally in 2018 after she quit her job to pursue a career in music. Just over four years later, she’s a Grammy winner with a list of collaborations with notable international stars. After she released her debut single, “Mr Rebel,” in 2018, a song which she produced herself, she dropped another single, “Try Me.” Tems released her debut extended play, For Broken Ears, in September 2020. The project was produced primarily by her, and the single “Damages” www.glamsquadmagazine.com 21