Afrobeats sensation Temilade Openiyi, known globally as Tems, has urged the world to look beyond stereotypes and experience the richness of African culture—starting with Nigeria and Ghana.
Speaking to Fashion Bomb Daily on the red carpet of the 2025 Met Gala in New York, the Grammy-winning artist encouraged people to visit Lagos and Ghana to get a genuine glimpse of everyday life in Africa.
“I’ve always encouraged people to go to Lagos and Ghana for their holidays. Go and see it for yourself before forming an opinion [about Africa]. See it for yourself and decide what you think,” she said.
Tems emphasized that Africa’s true beauty lies in its cultural depth and creative spirit:
“I think [Africa’s beauty] is in its creativity, its daily hustle, its gazes, its songs, its traditions, and its cultures,” the Nigerian star added.
She also highlighted the musical diversity that exists across the continent, pushing back against the global assumption that African music is limited to Afrobeats.
“We [Africans] can go further in every dimension of sound. We’re not just Afrobeats. There’s Amapiano, Afro-soul, R&B, Afro-jazz. There are so many African genres the world hasn’t fully tapped into yet,” Tems concluded.