Tems Talks About Disagreement She and Wizkid Had Over 'Essence'

If you ask any Afrobeats listening person anywhere around the world what the biggest Afrobeats song to come out last year was, 9 out of 10 people will undoubtedly tell you that it was Wizkid and Tems' monster hit of a song, 'Essence'.

Essence has been a monster of a song. In June of 2021, Essence debuted at no. 91 on the UK Singles Chart, making Made in Lagos the only Nigerian album to have more than one song debut on the UK Singles Chart (his song Ginger featuring Burna Boy had also been on the chart). The song is on every major playlist worldwide and in recent times, even international celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Doja Cat, Chloe Bailey, and more have been seen on multiple occasions listening to and vibing to the song.

Now in an interview with The Dotty Show, Tems is opening up about the song-making process of that song, reacting to the fanfare the song has been getting and talking about who her dream collaborations would be. This is what she said.

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Having one of the biggest songs of her career be a collaboration, the show host Dotty asked Tems what her dream collaboration would be.

Tems said:

In Africa, I would love to work with Asa just because I love her. Globally, I would love to get on a feature with either Kendrick Lamar or J.Cole. It is something that can (realistically) happen, I'm just speaking it into the universe right now.

When asked about Essence and if she thought the song would ever be as big as it is today when she was recording it, Tems said:

I mean, not in the least bit, I don't even think about it like that. Even the day I recorded it I was still like '"Mm, I can do better. Send me the beat and let me do it again." They were like no, this is great, but I was still like I want to do add some more, I was trying to top it and they didn't let me. It's not that I wasn't happy with it but I always like to challenge myself and I used to be such a perfectionist so I just thought I could do much better. At the end I just gave up and was like, 'this is fine'. I had no clue. Wiz was like 'THIS IS MAD', and I was like 'I mean, okay.'

Wow! Can you imagine? That fire performance and she still wanted to add more. Upon hearing this, Dotty the interviewer had to ask Tems if the version she wanted to re-do is the one that is currently on the song, to which Tems said yes. Dotty like all of us said to Tems, "If by your standards, you could do better then we are very excited for what is in store for you."

When asked about how she feels about Kylie Jenner and all these celebrities playing the song, Tems said:

Well I mean, that's God honestly, I don't even know what to say - it's just God. When I was out in LA, I'd just be hearing it in the most random places and I just thought "wow, I didn't know people knew this song over here." It's crazy.

Essence is still doing amazing and climbing new streaming charts and breaking new records all these months later. Tems says that she cannot wait to perform the song together with Wizkid for the first time. Man when that performance happens, it's going to be MASSIVE! I can't wait.

That's All.

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