Tems Continues Giant Strides

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

There is much happening for Tems as she gets nominated in the Best Hip-pop category for the 2022 Video Music Awards. The award-winning singer made it to the nomination list for her contributions to Future’s his hit single, “Wait For U”. The single is one of the songs on Future’s 9th solo studio album ‘I Never Liked You’ and it features Drake and also samples Tems’ ‘Higher’. 

This follows her appearance as a songwriter on Beyoncé‘s “Renaissance” album and her prologue in Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”  The footage begins sound track by Tems’s No Woman No Cry before transitioning into Alright by Kendrick Lamar. It is another win for Tems. She featured on the soundtrack for Black Panther 2 trailer.

Sharing the trailer on his Twitter page, Tems’ manager, Muyiwa Awoniyi, wrote, “Grateful to the amazing people at @MarvelStudios. Big love to the legend Ryan Coogler. It’s @temsbaby on the official Black Panther 2 trailer. My father in heaven. Thank you once again. Rest in peace @chadwickboseman”.

Listing the singer’s current wins, a fan, @eyavicente, tweeted, “In one year, Tems went to have a collaborate with Future and Drake, won best international act (BET Awards), has a featuring on Beyonce’s upcoming album and now Tems covers Bob Marley ‘No Woman No Cry’ for the official trailer of Marvel’s ‘Wakanda Forever’”.

This surprise was revealed when Marvel released the trailer for Wakanda Forever on Sunday 24th July 2022. The soundtrack album for the first installment of Black Panther was curated by Kendrick Lamar and it featured artists such as The Weeknd, SZA, Travis Scott, Future, Khalid, School Boy Q, Jorja Smith, Swalee, and James Blake, amongst others.

The choice of Tems is perhaps aimed at correcting this and giving the movie more African representation. Why Tems? Tems is currently one of the hottest Nigerian and African artistes internationally.

She also made her solo debut on Billboard Hot 100 chart with her 2020 song, “Free Mind” off her For Broken Ears EP. “Free Mind” made it to the chart last Monday, a day after Tems featured on the soundtrack of the trailer for Marvel’s Black Panther sequel, “Wakanda Forever”. Tems had debuted earlier on the Hot 100 last October, with her feature on “Essence” remix.

When on Tuesday, 26th July 2022, Barack Obama released his annual summer playlist for the year, Tems was on the list that also has Pheelz’s ‘Finesse’; Burna Boy’s ‘Last Last’ and Tems’ ‘Vibe Out’. This is not the first time Afrobeats acts will be featured on the famous summer playlist of the 44th United States president. In 2019, Rema’s ‘Iron Man’ made the playlist while in 2020, Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ also made the list.

The former U.S. president released his annual summer music playlist on his social media handles with a caption explaining how happy he is to share his favourite summer songs. He tweeted: ‘‘Every year, I get excited to share my summer playlist because I learn about so many new artists from your replies—it’s an example of how music really can bring us all together’’.