Tems opens up on her ‘poor’ performance on Wizkid song Essence

Fast-rising singer Tems has said that she felt she didn’t do enough on the song ‘Essence’ off Wizkid’s ‘Made in Lagos’ album.

In an interview with The Dotty Show on Apple Music 1, Tems said,

““Even (on) the day I recorded (my verse on the song), I felt I could do better. I asked them to send me the beat again so I could redo my verse but they (Wizkid’s team) said it was great. I told them I still wanted to ‘top it’ but they did not let me. However, I was happy with it. I always like to challenge myself and I used to be such a perfectionist. Wizkid also said he liked it.”

Reacting to a video of Kylie Jenner (American media personality, socialite and billionaire) singing along to ‘Essence’, Tems said, “That was good. When I was in Los Angeles, I was hearing the song in the most random places. I did not even know that people there knew the song. It was quite an experience.”

Recalling how she started making music, the singer said, “I was doing music on my own for a long time. It was just something I loved to do. However, I got to a point where I felt I had to share the music. I decided to put everything on the line and dive right in. I met a producer group and they offered their studio to me to record my first song, ‘Mr Rebel’. They also helped to mix it and about three months later, it was ‘out’. That was how it started.”

The ‘Damages’ singer also noted that she would like to work with singers such as Ara and Kendrick Lamar.

She said, “There are a couple of people I have recently met and worked with, and I’m excited to work with everybody. I cannot mention names right now because I want it to be a surprise. However, I really want to work with Aṣa, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.”