Tems has explores 'The Other Side' of humanity as she talks about self-awareness, fear, celebrity, therapy and empathy.
The Nigerian artist shares her motivations for making music, more stories from her childhood and advice for creatives on remaining honest and authentic with their work.
Tems said that everybody has anxieties and issues.
"...I challenge you to not be distracted from your life. I challenge you to look at yourself in the mirror, look at yourself, think about yourself, find yourself, love yourself, take care of yourself. I challenge you to do that. Don't idolize anybody's... You don't have to think about what you are not doing or what you are afraid of. Face that fear and know that on the other side, there's something amazing for you." She said
Speaking anout taking time between music and how people react to that, she said,
"People imagine themselves to be in your position, but don't actually understand the actual work that goes into it. So everything that they say is based off of their imagination. One thing that a lot of people never notice until now is that the first half of every single year, since I ever released music is my time to work on myself, work on my music, do everything I need to do. And in that time it seems like, "Oh my God, what's going on?" Nothing is going on. And people start talking because everybody is scared. It looks like they have something important to say, or they have something reasonable to say, but really it's fear."
So how does she overcome fear?
"...It really is just about looking at what it is and being honest with yourself. And a lot of times, what we think are afraid of is really not what it seems like on the surface. A lot of times there's a root to that fear. There's a, “oh, I'm afraid of getting fat. Am I afraid of getting fat? Or am I just afraid of not looking…” Or “do I just not believe in myself? Do I just not think I'm good enough?” Or “do I not just think that I will ever be good enough?” There's always a deeper question. And then when you find that deeper question, you start to see yourself a bit more clearly. You start to see things a bit more clearly."
She confirmed that she doesn't think about how people will receive her music.
"Maybe on the day that we're releasing it, the day of, I'll start looking for everything. Every reason why this song, this project should not be out. I'll start thinking, oh my gosh, what have I done? I'll start having last minute anxiety. And when I know I can't do anything about it, it's already something that is gone. Even if I said, oh, let's not do it, I can't actually stop it, but I just always decide all the time to have that last minute bout of drama. I just have some drama going on just before the 12 midnight, I'll start acting dramatic. Just because it is my, “oh, it's finally out” way of celebrating. It's a ritual."
She said this in an interview with Apple Music.
