“Do it crying. as long as you are doing it”
– an excerpt from “voices in My head”
It’s been a long four years for Tems since her instantaneous ascension in 2020 with her Grammy-nominated performance alongside Wizkid on “Essence”. From ingratiating her followers with strings of non-album singles and high-profile guest appearances to forestalling the joy of detractors who’ve been waylaying as hyenas awaiting her downfall, the Nigerian warbler has been playing the low but slow game, consolidating her position as a respectable vocalist while also refusing to sacrifice her artistry by pandering to the hype. The twenty-nine-year-old singer-songwriter officially put her soul on wax with her long-awaited debut project Born In the Wild.
With a total playback time of 54 minutes, Tems’s maiden offering is a smoldering collection of meditations, grievances, and confessions of love built atop sprawling production including but not necessarily restricted to afrobeats, amapiano, progressive R&B, hip-hop, and neo-soul. Manned by the likes of P2J, GuiltyBeatz, Sarz, and the lady of the moment, the sonic stew, in all its eclecticism, miraculously doesn’t cause sequential whiplash. All this could be due, in part, to a pair of variables that work in tandem from start to finish: the minimalistic approach in the execution of the production and the consistency in the beat selection as seen in the employment of elegiac guitar loop and depressed bass drums. Fused into one coherent body of work, the predominantly down-tempo sound paves the way for the Amazonian siren, who displays her vocal mastery by the cleanliness with which she rides the various rhythms of each song without overpowering the instruments.
The first quartet of Born in the Wild – namely, the titular song, “Special Baby”, “Burning” and “Wickedest” – butterflies the theme of the underdog taking over after coming out of nowhere. The theme reeks of justified and almost righteous indignation, as the songs and the lone interlude see Tems use her music as a form of protest against her naysayers, particularly those who have arrogated to themselves the right to conclude that her fame was nothing but a fluke, flying against the capabilities which have won her a Grammy and the acclaim of her contemporaries and critics alike. In a way, the quiet defiance displayed in the songs, such as when she calls herself “One In a Million” on “Wickedest”, are characteristic of a woman who has not only grown thick skin in order to survive the pressures of her rapid fame but also a person who’s grown confident enough to understand that she is deserving of all the glory she’s been eligible for.
“Love Me JeJe”, “Get It Right”, and “Ready” depart from the opening theme of the album as Tems ventures deep into her head and the feels brewing in her heart. Soft-cored, this portion of the album – taken with “Me & U” and “You In My Face” – is textured with tender R&B and soulful sounds, the music altogether marinated in romanticism and Tems’s consummate soft femininity.
Watch “Me & U”:
The album also explores feminine strength and a sense of independence as underscored by the braggadocious “Gangsta”, an undeniable highlight of the project that portrays the singer-songwriter as a baddie who is unafraid of revealing her unfamiliar but strangely dark side. Another song similar to it is “Boy O Boy,” a haunting rendition freighted with threats of a fed-up lover. The song’s most striking quality is the songstress’s ability to wax lyrical about threats of abuse and violence with the tone of a love-drunk partner affectionately engrossed in pillow talk following a steamy session of passionate sex. Along with “T-Unit”, “Free Fall”, and “Turn Me Up”, Tems assumes the full shape of an irascible woman discontent with the treatment she’s been receiving, all the more evidence of her belief that she not only deserves better but will get that “better” by any means necessary.
Born In the Wild is a solid first from an artist with the pressure of the world on her shoulders. Assisted by the likes of Dreamville rapper J. Cole as well as Grammy-nominated star Asake, Tems remains the lead in her show, hardly ever getting upstaged even by her production team. If the aim was to remain true to herself, Tems achieved the goal, and the greatest flex is that she did it while showing sides of her herself most people hardly knew of.
Listen to Born In the Wild:
