Never has the phrase “Afrobeats to the world” been embodied to a T than right now, a time when musicians from every class have snagged opportunities from around the world to let everyone in on the magnitude of talent that resides within the industry. From Fireboy DML to Rema and now Tems, who was the subject of social media appreciation yesterday, due to the elaborate announcement of her collaboration with Canadian-American rapper, Drake, the industry is seeing a realignment and reassessment of importance, with talent and affiliation now becoming the main elements of valuation and not fame. Tems’s feature on Fountains, the sixteenth track on the rapper’s sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy was celebrated as a national win yesterday when the billboards indicating this went live in major areas, but more than anything, its an appreciation of how far she has come since the release of Mr Rebel in 2017 and follow up break out hit, Try Me in 2018 with the cherry on top being her mesmeric feature on Wizkid’s record-breaking and chart-topping hit, Essence.
The only song on Certified Lover Boy that appreciates Africa’s preference for galvanic traditional drums most likely an influence of co-producer, Tresor Riziki’s roots, fused with 40’s signature tempered synths keys, Fountains is a sensual love song that finds the unsurprisingly complementary pair trading sweet promises over the inviting instrumental. In typical Drake fashion, the single with its even more powerful chorus delivered in Tems’s signature lush drawl provides listeners with avenues to dance and ponder.
Although a metaphor for something else, closing lines “Woah, oh, come in, come in, yeah, come in. This feels like home now. Come in and stay here” rings true as an allusion to Tems’s future.