Ayra Starr, The Rising Star

Ferdinand Ekechukwu

In 2021, Ayra Starr, real name Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe made known her entry into the music industry with her smash hit ‘Bloody Samaritan’, which was closely followed by an album ‘19 & Dangerous’. A remix of the ‘Bloody Samaritan’ single featuring American artiste and former Destiny’s Child member, Kelly Rowland, dropped days back.  

As noted, this remix keeps the original structure, but Rowland’s top vocal runs take it to a higher level. A music video for the “Bloody Samaritan” off “19 & Dangerous” which was her first album followed successively. The remix, a deluxe version of “19 & Dangerous” was released yesterday.

With charm and attitude, the 19-year-old singer is one of Nigeria’s most promising new voices.  Between her emergence year and 2022, the Mavin star girl has dropped hit songs that threw her into the limelight. Some of those hit singles include ‘Away’ and ‘Bloody Samaritan.’ With her recent single ‘Rush’ in September 2022, Ayra Starr has been on the trend table in the music industry.

Hitting number one on the charts in another country in the last few days, she has hopped on several charts. Last week, Ayra Starr became the first female artiste to record multiple No. 1 entries in Nigeria and only the second artiste to have multiple No. 1 songs off a debut album (Asake is the first).

Since Ayra’s Bloody Samaritan peaked at No. 1 back in 2021, no female artiste has reached the top of a chart in Nigeria until ‘Rush’ debuted at No. 1. The longest time ever without a female artiste having a No. 1 single is 40 weeks. ’19 & Dangerous’ also became only the fifth album to have multiple No. 1 entries in the country.

Raised in Lagos and Cotonou, Ayra is dedicated to preserving African rhythms and language in her work. She sings in English, Pidgin English and Yoruba. She chose the stage name Starr because she knew what she could be. Then she chose the Arabic name, “Ayra,” meaning honorable and respected.

At the age of 19, she made the country pause with the release of her eponymous EP early in 2021. The young songstress went from being relatively unknown to becoming a strong contender for Nigeria’s best new artiste — viral doesn’t even begin to explain what Ayra went through with the release of that EP.

Ayra is deliberate about doing music. That deliberateness comes from spending a lifetime getting ready for today.

Ayra said in a recent chat: “Before I became famous, I wrote the pros and cons of fame. I wrote about what I would do and how I would do it. Because I’ve always known it was going to happen. I’ve worked hard to be where I am today and I’ve been saying since I was young that I was going to be popular and famous. I’ve been Ayra Starr since I was born. I was that annoying child who would tell everyone that I was going to be a superstar.”

Today, Ayra is living the life she has always known was for her and a huge part of that is the confidence with which she approaches her music.

She started recording with the storied Nigerian producer Don Jazzy the day they met in December of 2019. Even that encounter, according to a music journalist occurred at a breakneck pace. Jazzy reached out to Ayra just three hours after she posted an original song, “Damaged” (now called “Toxic” on her album). One even joked that through Ayra, Don Jazzy recouped his investment on label-mate, Di’Ja. Funny…

By June of 2020, she signed to his label, Mavin Records. She released her first EP in January, roughly a year after her first studio session. “Oh my god, I was so nervous,” Ayra says of her first meeting with Don Jazzy. She brought her brother with her to Mavin’s Lagos office and studio. “We were waiting, just by the gate. We would make Snaps. We were just jumping. We were so nervous.” 

The family Ayra grew up with is a cornerstone of her musical ability. Her mom is a former singer and she has an aunt who rapped. The women would covertly coax her and her siblings into songwriting competitions. “We didn’t even know that’s what it was then,” says Ayra. Her mom and aunt would give the kids an hour to come up with something and a word to start them off.

By 10, Ayra was imagining whole albums. After starting college at 14, she continued to pursue music at her mother’s behest, even though she started to become cognizant of gender imbalances in the West African music industry. She says she saw the way men in some parts of the region could sing of vices and challenges that wouldn’t be tolerated in women’s lyrics.

She thought of becoming her brother’s manager rather than a star herself, but her mom encouraged her to still upload videos of herself performing online and, well, by now you know how that turned out for her.