Nigeria's New Female Singers Flip The Middle Finger to the Male Gaze
New stars like Tems and Ayra Starr are not here to pander to male fantasies.
I'm sure you must have noticed that there are lots of new female singers in Nigeria now.
Tems, Ayra Starr, Liya, Dunnie, Tsuni, Ria Sean, Preye and others have ushered in the new wave of female talent in the Afrobeats capital of the world.
Tems, the darling of the R&B movement in America, really broke out in 2019 with her hit single 'Try Me.'
Since the success of this song, Tems has broken the glass ceiling previously shattered by her predecessors in terms of mainstream presence in the holy grail of all markets- America.
Even the most casual listener who skims through her music knows that Tems's core themes deal with the complexities of life, love and relationships. She doesn't deliver overtly sexual records that tantalize the average male listener; neither does she use her figure as a selling point, much to the annoyance and frustration of a patriarchal den in Twitter. Why encourage school boy fantasies?
‘Essence’ is a sensual record, but not of the brazen type.
19-year-old singer Ayra Starr, who just released her debut album '19 & Dangerous', channels Britney-esque new millennium fashion in her appearance.
The way she dresses has little to do with commoditizing her inherent sex appeal and more of expressing her freedom and agency.
Ayra Starr's hit single, 'Bloody Samaritan', is a philosophical record and not the standard fare of an Afrobeats record you would expect from a female singer. So far, the Mavin act has shown she would rather touch on Afro-futuristic themes in most of her videos than be a one-dimensional sex pot.
I'm sure many thought Liya would have been an Olivia in Davido's ultra-male DMW 'candy shop', but her EP was a pleasant surprise as her voice and spirituality stole the show.
What we have now is opposite of Tiwa Savage’s emergence over a decade ago. The pop star broke through with records like 'Kele Kele Love' and 'Love Me 3X'.
The video for the latter garnered her criticisms for its overt sex appeal.
And let's not forget how the nation created a fuss out of nothing over her 2014 video 'Wanted'.
Tiwa Savage's use of sex appeal, whether on her records or in her videos, was necessary when female singers in Nigeria were marketed as prudes in appearance and content.
Her courage to be a game-changer and rebel created a new era for female Nigerian singers.
Now, the video-vixen aesthetics have taken a back burner to authenticity and raw emotions.
During Ayra Starr's recent performance at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), the singer removed her coat and performed ‘Bloody Samaritan’.
Even though 'gutter blogs' and trolls criticized her for performing 'topless', the general public didn’t seem to bother. The message of her song resonated with the audience more than what she wore or didn’t wear.
Song > Skin.
Totally agree.