In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 11 June 1995
- Birthplace
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Country
- Nigeria
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- For Broken Ears, Essence and Born in the Wild
- Born
- 11 June 1995, Lagos
- Birth name
- Temilade Openiyi
- Debut EP
- For Broken Ears, 2020
- Debut studio album
- Born in the Wild, 7 June 2024
Why this life matters
Her career illustrates how a performer can also contribute as a producer and songwriter. Following those credits separately gives a clearer account than treating a sampled vocal, a featured performance, an album and a film-song nomination as one kind of achievement.
Timeline
Key moments
Birth
Born in Lagos on 11 June.
Debut EP and collaboration
Released For Broken Ears; appeared on Wizkid’s Essence.
Second EP
Released If Orange Was a Place.
Performance Grammy
WAIT FOR U, with Future and Drake, won Best Melodic Rap Performance.
Original Song nomination
Lift Me Up received an Oscar nomination with Tems credited for music and lyric contributions.
Debut studio album
Born in the Wild was released on 7 June via RCA/Since ’93.
African Music Performance
Love Me JeJe won the category at the 67th Grammys.
An artist with several creative roles
Tems was born Temilade Openiyi in Lagos on 11 June 1995. RCA identifies her as a Nigerian artist working across singing, songwriting and production. Those roles are related but should not become interchangeable labels for every release. A vocal performance can appear on a work whose production and composition involve other people; a songwriter can receive recognition for a song performed by someone else. Her subsequent credits make those distinctions especially useful. They allow a biography to follow her contribution to each project without assuming that lead billing is the only form of authorship or participation.
EPs and Essence preceded the studio album
For Broken Ears, her debut EP, appeared in 2020. If Orange Was a Place followed in September 2021. RCA’s biography also identifies the collaboration with Wizkid on Essence as important to the growth of her audience. The Recording Academy’s fixed 2022 record lists Wizkid and Tems as nominees for Best Global Music Performance for that recording. A nomination is a distinct event from a win, and an EP is a distinct release format from a debut studio album. Keeping those terms intact preserves the shape of her early discography rather than making the later album seem to be her first published music.
A sampled recording and a credited performance
RCA connects WAIT FOR U to a sample of Higher, a recording from For Broken Ears. The 2023 Grammy record names Future featuring Drake and Tems as the winner of Best Melodic Rap Performance. The sample relationship helps explain how an earlier recording entered a later collaborative work; the award record separately establishes the credited winning performance. Neither source authorizes treating every use of a sample as the same sort of award participation. The result belongs to that title, category and ceremony year. It should not be retitled as an African Music Performance award, a category introduced only at the following ceremony.
Composition recognition for a film song
At the 2023 Oscars, Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was nominated for Music (Original Song). The Academy credits its music to Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson, and its lyric to Tems and Coogler. This is a composition credit and a nomination, not a claim that Tems won the Oscar or supplied every credited contribution herself. It adds an important dimension to her professional record beyond featured vocals. Naming the precise category also prevents a film-song credit from being mistaken for an acting role or a review of the film, neither of which follows from the nomination list.
Sources for this section: [7]
Born in the Wild and Love Me JeJe
The dated RCA/Since ’93 release announces Born in the Wild on 7 June 2024 and supplies an 18-track list. It is stronger evidence for the released album than an earlier announcement or an undated biography with a conflicting count. Its collaborators include Asake and J. Cole. The single Love Me JeJe includes an interpolation of Seyi Sodimu’s 1997 work of the same name, as the release explains. In 2025, Tems’s recording won Best African Music Performance; the album itself was a Best Global Music Album nominee. These are different outcomes for different objects. They document the expanding reach of her work while preserving the individual roles and releases behind the recognition.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Tems
- Was Born in the Wild Tems’s first release?
- It was her debut studio album in 2024. Her debut EP For Broken Ears appeared in 2020.
- What did Love Me JeJe win in 2025?
- Best African Music Performance. Born in the Wild was separately nominated for Best Global Music Album.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Wizkid
Follow the album and collaborative context of Essence.
- Burna Boy
Compare a Global Music Album win with Tems’s later performance award.
- Onyeka Onwenu
Explore a distinct Nigerian career across music and other media.
- Tiwa Savage
Compare a distinct Nigerian songwriter’s training and roles across recording and film.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Golden GlobesTems: person record
Read identity sentence line 34 only for birth name, 11 June 1995 Lagos birth and singer/songwriter/producer role. Do not adopt its Lift Me Up performance/year wording; consult Academy’s precise composition credit instead.
- 2. RCA Label Group UKTems: artist biography
Read biography and releases lines 3–21/29–78: Témìládè Openiyi, 2020/2021 EPs, Essence, Wait for U sample of Higher, debut album and single interpolation. Its 16-track debut claim conflicts with dated release’s 18 and is not used. Promotional first/total claims unused. No audio/video played.
- 3. RCA Records/Since ’93Tems releases Born in the Wild, 7 June 2024
Read four-page PDF text, especially page 2 release paragraph and numbered 18-track list, page 3 Seyi Sodimu interpolation, and page 4 photo credit. No linked album, tour, video, artwork or photo downloaded or played. Scheduled tour dates do not establish completed shows.
- 4. Recording AcademyBest Melodic Rap Performance: 2023 winner
Read 65th Awards winner and artist rows lines 40–52: Future featuring Drake and Tems, WAIT FOR U. Present category description not treated as the complete historical 2023 rulebook. No recording played.
- 5. Recording AcademyBest African Music Performance: 2025 winner
Read 67th Awards winner and nominees lines 37–66: Love Me JeJe/Tems winner; Higher/Burna Boy and MMS/Asake,Wizkid nominees. Later-year rows excluded from manuscript. No recording played.
- 6. Recording AcademyTems: fixed award records
Read 2022–2025 award rows lines 45–100 for Essence nomination, WAIT FOR U win vs Best Rap Song nomination, Born in the Wild nomination and Love Me JeJe win. Displayed career totals deliberately unused. Initial uppercase-URL open failed; lowercase artist link succeeded.
- 7. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesThe 95th Academy Awards: Original Song, 2023
Read event date and Music (Original Song) rows, especially lines 597–626: Lift Me Up nominee; music by Tems,Rihanna,Ryan Coogler,Ludwig Göransson and lyric by Tems,Coogler. No film, recording, lyrics or ceremony video inspected.
- 8. Recording AcademyThree new categories for the 2024 Grammys, 13 June 2023
Read dated announcement lines 31–56: Best African Music Performance introduced at 2024 ceremony and described as tracks/singles, with broad regional musical scope. Not an album category and not a census of every African musical tradition.
