Nigerian star Temilade Openiyi, globally known as Tems, offered fans a rare glimpse into what her life might have looked like outside the spotlight during an interactive session on X on Tuesday. Responding to a follower’s question about alternative career choices, the award-winning singer said she could have ended up crunching numbers or teaching them, noting that she “might have been an accountant or a mathematics teacher” if music hadn’t taken off.
Her comment resurfaced her earlier revelation that she walked away from a digital marketing job in January 2018 to pursue music full-time — a gamble that quickly paid off. Tems released her debut single Mr Rebel later that year, earning early attention on the Nigerian music scene.
Her breakthrough arrived in 2020 with her feature on Wizkid’s global hit Essence. The track, boosted by a remix with Justin Bieber, soared to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, cementing Tems as one of the most influential voices in contemporary Afrobeats.
The singer’s latest disclosure adds another layer to her evolving story, highlighting how close she came to a career behind a desk rather than on the world stage.