Tems Rejects Afrobeats Label, Insists Her Music Is R&B

Nigerian singer Tems has once again pushed back against being classified as an Afrobeats artiste, saying she releases her music as R&B while media outlets continue to place it under the Afrobeats umbrella.

The Grammy-winning artiste stated emphatically that her genre of music is not the widely acclaimed Afrobeats.

“I’m not an Afrobeats artiste. When I release my music, I classify it as R&B, but blogs keep calling it Afrobeats. I’ve noticed that any music that comes out of Africa is automatically categorized as Afrobeats,” she said. 

She made the remarks in an interview on Hot 97 while reflecting on the long-standing position she has held since the beginning of her career. 

She has previously argued that her sound draws more from R&B, soul and alternative influences, and that the Afrobeats tag is often applied simply because of her Nigerian origin.

Tems rose to global prominence with her feature on Wizkid’s 2020 hit Essence and has since earned major success across R&B and global charts, including a Grammy win and collaborations with artistes such as Drake, Future and Rihanna. 

Despite frequent associations with the Afrobeats wave that has brought African music wider international attention, she has consistently emphasized the diversity of sounds emerging from the continent.