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April 5, 2025 11 mins
Before becoming a part of the next wave of Afrobeat hitmakers, the artist known as Tems was born Temilade Openiyi on June 11th, 1995 in Lagos, Nigeria. With her father being British Nigerian, Tems and her family moved to London when she was still just a baby. Still, they’d return to Nigeria some four years later where her parents got divorced shortly thereafter. From that point forward, Tems was raised alongside her brother, Tunji, by their mother in the neighborhood in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. On Sunday everyone would attend the same local church and everyone in their community always seemed to know everyone else. With Lagos being such a big city and Tems having a quiet demeanor, she often felt alone in the midst of the sprawling capital and so she began writing poetry as a means to deal with her complicated emotions
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you clicked on this video and you don't know
who Thames is, you got a lot to learn. I mean,
she's only worked with Justin Bieber, whiz Kid, Future Drake,
and she's part of the Black Panther two soundtrack So
Big Things, before becoming a part of the next wave
of afrobeat hit makers. The artist known as Thames Well.
She was born Temi La da Ope on June eleventh,
nineteen ninety five in Lagos, Nigeria, then with her father

(00:23):
being British Nigerian Will Thames and her family they moved
to London when she was still just a baby, but
they'd returned to Nigeria some four years later when her
parents they got divorced. Shortly thereafter and from that point
forward Will Thames. She was raised alongside her brother Tunji
by their mother in the neighborhood of Elok Pooju. Forgive
me now if I'm saying any of.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
These incorrectly, I've never been there. No there.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
They lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment and on
Sundays everyone would attend the same local church and everyone
in their community always seemed to know everyone else, which
is a lovely way to grow up.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
My mom is literally like she she's the best kind
of optimist in the world and she always sees the brightside.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Now, with Lagos being such a big city in tem's
having a quiet demeanor, well, she often felt alone in
the midst of the sprawling capital, and so she began
writing poetry as it means to deal with her complicated emotions.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
She described this process to The Guardian where she told
them I'll just sit down and write songs I'm feeling
and It'll come out so poetic, even if I'm just
talking about breakfast. So then I just started writing songs
at around eleven. There's some of these songs they were
about herself, others were about her friends. Now a lot
of them they dealt with very sad emotions. But at
the end of the day, while she was expressing herself

(01:39):
in this way, and that's what helped her heal. The
part of the problem for her was that home just
didn't feel like home anymore. And that's thanks in parts
to the tempts horrible stepdad, whom she simply just didn't
get along with, and to make matters worse, well, school
it wasn't any better. She explained why to Native magazine.
I wasn't a cool kid. I wasn't popular, at least
not for good things. I used to cry a lot,

(02:01):
and people used to call me names. I didn't have friends,
so I spent a lot of time in the music
room to practice singing.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
No, Thames also didn't like the sound of her own voice. Now.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
She thought it sounded too loud and ugly, so she'd
often sing in falsetto just to soften things up. Now, thankfully,
she discovered a mentor who helped her break out of
her shell.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Mister so Son.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
This was thames music teacher in secondary school, and he
knew from the moment he first met.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Her that she was going to be something special.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now, during breaks in after school, well, mister so Son,
he would work tirelessly with Thames on her technique while
accompanying her on the piano.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Now, by the time mister so.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Sun had left the school, well, it instilled enough confidence
in Thames that she finally made a handful of friends.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
And that was during her senior year.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now, at the age of seventeen, will Tames, she joined
the choir, but she kept it a secret for most
Her mother was the only person.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
That actually knew.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Now, that's when Thames really began to get serious about music,
by honing in on her sound and improving songs from
artists she loved, which included the likes of Kate Nash,
Lauren Hill, Little Kim, as well as acts like Paramore
and Green Day, the last two bands of which her
brother had introduced to her.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Now.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Unfortunately, around this time, while her mother she decided to
marry her stepdad, which sent Thames into a panic and
which she tried to run away from home, only to
end up in what she described as well some crazy situations.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Now it's worse.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Well, even though Thames had a pretty good idea that
she wanted to be a singer, well, she decided to
carry on with her post secondary education simply to keep
her family happy.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
I feel like that's something a lot of us can
relate to.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
You get them degrees, and them degrees don't really do
what they're supposed to do.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
You have to do something serious that will make you money.
And academics is like a big thing, like, oh, everybody
has to go to school.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
She followed through by earning an economics degree at the
South African Campus of mon Ash university. To be fair,
Thames actually says that she's got two degrees. But after
spending a year or so in the corporate workforce, well,
she reached the point where she felt compelled to shape
her future. She explained to afro Punk. I just had
a very strong feeling that I wasn't meant to be there,
and I literally got a New Year's message about taking

(04:05):
a leap or something like that, and I just remember thinking,
you have to quit your job today. So that's exactly
what she did, and it turned out to be the
best decision of her life. There were family's reaction to
Thames quitting her day job. Well, it was one of dismay.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
They simply didn't understand why she'd leave a cushy job
in digital marketing to risk it all on a career
in music.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
And for a while there, well it seemed like they
were right.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
As Thame's life, well, it became very, very difficult, she
explained to GQ. There were times when I was not
just broke, I was broke and hopeless.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
I used to steal food. I used to go to my.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Auntie's house just so she could give me some food
to take home. I just felt like, what is the
point of me existing right now? You have to remember
those times because that person does not exist anymore. Six
months after deciding to rewrite the story of her life,
Well Thames wrote, produced, and released her debut single, Mister
Rebel in the summer of twenty eighteen, now featuring a
strip back almost do it your self production and no

(05:00):
video to accompany it.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well The song was powerful enough that it still managed.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
To earn her an interview in a local radio station,
and as the response to her debut track became more
and more electric, Well Thames found herself getting recognized both
in Nigeria and abroad.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
Like I literally didn't think that like so many people
would like it, and it's just inspired me more to do,
like to bring out more music. I have like a
couple of stuff planned.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
In fact, you could say that things they just kind
of fell into place from that point forward, now more
and more people they began reaching out to her, sharing
her music nationwide and asking her to perform at live venues.
With her audience developing much faster than she expected, Well
Thames would grace her burdoing fan base with a few
new tracks, the biggest of which was the single try Me,
a song that currently is sitting at over thirteen million

(05:45):
views on YouTube at the time of this recording.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
By September of twenty twenty, well Temes she was ready
to unleash her debut EP titled for Broken Ears Now.
This was a project in which she wrestled for relief
from toxic relationships also some depression. Now the song I
officially solidified her prominent position within West African alternative music
and fashion subculture. More than just that Will Thames, she
also became one of the few known woman producers in

(06:10):
all of Nigeria. When other established producers either asked her
for too much money or refused to accept her creative decisions,
Will Tames, she taught herself how to produce and her
career well, it's now all the better for it now.
She described what facilitated this choice to The Guardian, where
she told them I started producing as Rebellion. It was
me being like, you know what, everybody is just being

(06:30):
stuck up, treating me like a dumb person. Okay, no problem,
I'll go and make beats and you will not be
able to tell me in the studio now. Thames's steady
has said it would hit warp Drive in the summer
of twenty twenty one. Now that's what she rose to
prominence after the release of her collaboration single titled Essence,
alongside Wizkid and Justin Bieber. Now, the impact this single

(06:51):
would make all across the world would transform Thame's career
as superstars like Alicia Keys and Chris Brown, Well, they
began reaching out to her through social media to coast
and her talents. But all of that it paled in
comparison to when Thames bumped into a dell on the
streets of la only to discover that one of the
world's most popular songstresses, well, she was a massive fan
of her work, proving it with an impromptu serenade. Not

(07:16):
to capitalize on her ever increasing notoriety, well, Thames would
drop her second EP in September of twenty twenty one,
titled If Orange Was a Place. Now, this was a
project that felt much lighter and more at peace than
her previous one. And now that she had begun to
establish herself and left the insecurities of her past behind her, Well,
Thames was finally ready to spread her wings and have
a little fun, and it as big of a boom

(07:38):
as essence was for her career, what happened next it
would be even bigger now. After discovering her music will
producer atl Jacobs Well, he shared it with Future, who
felt an instant connection to Thames's work. In fact, he
felt so moved by it he decided to use a
sample of her song higher Off for Broken Ears to
fashion a new single titled.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Weight for You.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
The Future even went as far as to give ten
ms Co credit on the track to help increase her exposure.
That was one of the first singles off his twenty
twenty two album I Never Liked You Well. The song
also featured Drake, who would appear alongside both Future and Thames.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
In the Accompany music video.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
But this wasn't the first time that Thames had worked
with Drake Now. She also popped up on a certified
lover Boy album on the track Fountains. But with the
release of this new single, Well, Thames would make history
by becoming the first Nigerian artist to debut a single
at number one on.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
The Billboard Hot one hundred.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Those songs, they rarely debut at number one on the
Billboard Hot one hundred. In fact, only sixty one tracks
in total have debuted at that top spot, and with
over half of those happening in twenty eighteen or later.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Well as impressive as a feat as that is, well.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Thames Her stock would only continue to rise when she
was selected to appear on the soundtrack to one of
the year's biggest films, I'm Talking Black Panther Will Conda
Forever Now. In here she supplied the track No Woman,
No Cry, a song that was featured heavily throughout the
film's rollout. And then came the American Music Awards, where
Tames she found herself earning four nominations and walking home

(09:04):
as the winner of Favorite Hip Hop Song alongside Future
thanks to the massively popular hit wait for You. And
to think Tame's accomplished all of this without having get
released her debut studio album, Well, she's hoping her music
it will change lives now, having emerged from a continent
where music still isn't regarded as a viable or even
worthy pursuit. Will her ability to establish herself as a

(09:25):
meaningful artist and a presence all over the world while
it's done wonders for her nation. In fact, she explained
to Afro Punk apart from the government, music is the
only thing that influences people individually and simultaneously. And beyond
just reaching a stage where she's able to make a
tangible difference in the lives of people back home, well,
Tams's story has also become a source of hope that

(09:46):
will no doubt inspire others to follow in her wake.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
If I could change one thing in the Nigerian industry,
it would be the negativity and this selfish orientation. I
know that's two things.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Well, will Thims's impact in the West African music scene
ultimately result in Well, we'll just have to wait and see.
After all, this video is titled before They're Famous. Thanks
for checking out this one, guys. We want to make
more Afro beat artists on this channel. That's a genre
that's just blowing up and there's a lot of artists
that they deserve the roses.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
So let us know who to do next.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
And before we go, I got a question for you guys.
If a resampled version of your own song became a
bigger hit than the original, would that bother you at all?
Or would you simply enjoy the success no matter what?
Be interested to hear what you guys have to say
about that in the comments down below. Otherwise, be sure
to like, subscribe, turn on your notifications, and let us
know who to feature next. We love when you guys

(10:45):
give us suggestions and that's when we really get them
done in the videos take off, so be sure to
hit us up and I'll see guys in another video.
Stand st
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