Time I felt worthless in life — Singer Tems

Delectable Nigerian songstress, Temilade Openiyi also known as Tems, might now appear to be a very confident lady to her friends and fans but there was a time in the singer’s life when she felt she had no value and self-worth.

The Crazy Things singer further said that during that period of her life, she genuinely believed she was meant to be ‘the mat that people stepped on’.

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While taking a trip down memory lane Tems made the revelation during the unveiling of a recently launched project, ‘Leading Vibe Radio’ on Apple Music 1.

“I would call myself confident. I think when one has a certain level of awareness, one can help but be confident. It’s like if the lion realises it’s a lion, what is the reason for it to act like a rat? That’s not even an option. I feel like the more one realises who one is, the more confident one is because one knows what’s important. Nothing else matters.

“However, I have not always been confident. I think as children, we are all confident. I think we are born into this world full of new adventures, and we just go into them and do things. I think, along the way, life happened. There was a time I had no self-worth or value, or I genuinely believed I was meant to be the mat that people stepped on.

“When I was in school I couldn’t eat in public. I was not someone that people liked. And I was like, “If my presence is bothering people, I’m just going to move away. I’m just going to do my thing and find what I like,” Tems shared.

Born to a Nigerian mother and a British-Nigerian father, Tem’s family moved to the United Kingdom shortly after birth but her parents divorced when she was five.

She relocated to Nigeria with her mother, they resided in Ilupeju before moving to Lekki and then Ajah. Tems attended Dowen College before proceeding to South Africa for her Tertiary education. At school, she was noticed by her music teacher and she learned to play the piano. She would practice singing with her brother’s guitar accompaniment.

In 2018 Tems quit her job to pursue a career in music, she recorded “Mr Rebel”, a song of her own composition.

Three years later, she earned two US top 40 entries on the Billboard Hot 100, with her collaboration with Drake on the song “Fountains” from his album Certified Lover Boy, and the Wizkid single “Essence”; the latter of which reached the top ten following a remix with Justin Bieber, and earned her a Grammy Award.