“Dare To Dream” Review—Ayra Starr Documentary Connects The Past To The Future

Ayra Starr: Dare To Dream is a 22-minute documentary that skims through the life and blossoming career of Nigerian superstar and Grammy nominee, Ayra Starr. The docu-film briefly captures the artist’s rise to fame, with her voiceover often steering the narrative, and her journey through London, Los Angeles, Lagos, and Cotonou as she continues to define the future of Afrobeats and cultivate a global music legacy.

Co-directed by Louise Clarke and Eniafe Momodu, the documentary is chronologically narrated in four chapters named after the four elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. It merges interviews with family, friends, and colleagues of the pop star with clips of her stage performances, landscapes of specific locations, and BTS music videos. The interviewees include Milar (Ayra Starr’s brother who is an artist and songwriter), Nene (Ayra Starr’s mother), Aimiuwu (Ayra Starr’s aunt), Bush Boy (Ayra Starr’s brother who is a filmmaker), Rima Tahini (Director of A&R, Mavin Records), Edward “Vaedar” Ekunwe (A&R Manager, Mavin Records), Nassibath (Ayra Starr’s best friend), Seyi Albert (Ayra Starr’s business manager), and Lifesize Teddy (Mavin Signee). The presentation of multiple perspectives is made attractive and compact with great editing capturing the most crucial lines and conversations that fuel the smooth pacing of the documentary. This makes it easy for the audience to be immersed in the video’s entire experience, catching the main gist without getting distracted and losing focus. For the documentary, much means less: not much is offered in thematic width, but it makes optimal use of the time to address the background and beautiful becoming of the singer. 

Born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderigbibe in the coastal city of Cotonou, Benin Republic, Ayra Starr spent her childhood in Cotonou and Lagos, Nigeria. As she points out in the documentary, she spent a part of her teenage years in Abuja right before moving to Lagos to concretize her musical dreams. The documentary is an attempt to make sense of Ayra Starr’s precocious career, right from birth and through the testimonies of her family and associates to her current position as an artist of enormous global standing. 

The first two chapters of the documentary reveal the foundation of the singer, the development of her talent, and getting signed to Mavin Records. From winning a TV set at an edition of the Maltina Dance-All competition to being part of the church choir with one of her brothers, Ayra Starr’s artistic potentials are contextualized. It’s immediately apparent that right from her formative years at home, the singer showed clear signs of infectious passion, audacity, leadership, and tenacity. All the accomplishments that would accompany her rise to artistic prominence are rooted in the values she imbibed while growing up. Her willingness to exert some control or influence over her siblings and refusal to be deterred by her father’s initial opposition to her musical dreams are childhood testaments that have helped build and steadied her career. Getting signed to Mavin Records was the icing on the cake; her identity and artistic autonomy became more pronounced; and the epithet “celestial being”, inspiring an indomitable aura, seemed to make more sense following the nomination of her single Rush in the newly established Best African Music Performance category in the Grammys.

In the final two chapters titled “Earth” and “Air” respectively, the focus is on Ayra Starr’s present and future. Unlike the previous chapters that delve into the singer’s past, “Earth” and “Air” unveil the current realities and provide insights into the pop star’s future. Despite the fame and glory, Ayra Starr remains a family-oriented person. She has successfully carried her family and loved ones along with her on her journey through stardom. It is also quite interesting that she strikes a balance between her career and family life. Though unmarried and without a romantic partner of her own, as the documentary suggests, the 22-year-old feels committed to family values and self-development.

Towards the end of the documentary, we see the singer return to the Benin Republic, her birthplace, for a musical performance—suggesting a homecoming and a gnawing desire to maintain contact with her roots, her source, despite her globetrotting. The river that forgets its source, according to a Yoruba proverb, stops. Thankfully, Ayra Starr knows this and heeds the call to action.