When we download the apps that make our mobile phones do all the things we need to do, we often agree to terms and conditions that we do not have the patience to read. Many writers, artists, entertainers, sportsmen, and women have found themselves in situations where they shortchanged themselves because of their desire or desperation to become successful without taking a path where the terms and conditions are sustainable for their long-term growth and happiness. The fame and fortune being enjoyed by the singer Tems recently drew my attention. In the short time, she has been active in the Nigerian music scene, she has achieved what veterans like Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, and Waje could only daydream about. The trending video of Wizkid trying to lift her up while on stage performing their global hit Essence was a rude reminder of the murky waters that success presents and how young artists must conduct themselves privately and publicly. In 2021, Tems started as someone barely known in Nigeria to a diva that is seen dining with Drakes and taking selfies with billionaire Rihanna. Thanks to her sultry voice, beauty, personality, and feature by Wizkid. Things are happening so fast in her career that she needs all the wisdom she can get to emerge as successful as she can be. But what is success for someone like Tem?

Tems whose real name is Temilade Openiyi was born on the 11th of June 1995. She is fast emerging as the biggest Nigerian female diva. In 2021, the year of her outstanding breakthrough, she has earned two US top 40 entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with her collaboration with Drake on the song “Fountains”, and the Wizkid single “Essence”, which has reached the Billboard top ten with the remix with Justin Bieber. The Essence collaboration has earned her a Grammy Award nomination that can give her first Grammy Award just as Wizkid got his first Grammy Award with his collaboration with Beyonce. Tems was ranked number one on the Billboard Next Big Sound chart. She was ranked number five on the Billboard Emerging Artist chart. The global music record label RCA signed her in September 2021. Her second EP – If Orange Was a Place, reached the top ten on the Billboard World Albums chart. What has happened to Tems in 2021 is almost unbelievable. I believe in her wildest dreams she would not see herself where she is today with regards to the fact that her sound was rejected by some music producers and executives who felt she sounded too R&B – the popular genre among African Americans.

Early success is a blessing that can easily become a curse. The blessed can easily jettison that discipline that got them the disciples who facilitated their rise to the top. Their family, friends, and handlers can easily become pimps and usurpers. All to the detriment of the artiste. The artiste can also follow a career template that will abruptly end their good run or become proud and unmanageable. In Nigeria, Cynthia Mongan is an example of an artist that held so much promise but ended up with so much controversy that derailed her career. Even successful frontrunners like Tiwa Savage, Toke Makinwa, and Tonto Dikeh could not manage their careers and family (marriage) successfully. I measure success with three variables – Fame, Fortune, and Family. Omotola Jalade Ekeinde is arguably the only A-list celebrity who has global achievement (fame), has benefitted financially from her career without runs (fortune), and has a happy enduring marriage (family). On the world stage, Beyonce is a role model that has it all. Younge artists like Billie Ellish and Swift Tailor did not become Grammy favorites by becoming sex symbols or getting themselves sexualized in a way that is becoming a potential path for Tems. Wizkid and Drakes have been helpful in getting her this far, but they could easily add her to their sexual conquests. At Towncryyers, we wish Tems, the best in the years to come, but also advise her to choose a template of success on her own terms where she is able to manifest fame, fortune, and family.

Ata Ukuta – Editor, Towncryyers