Grammy award-winning and Oscar-nominated Nigerian singer/songwriter Tems was blown away by just how big her fanbase is on the other side of the world when she addressed the sold-out crowd at her Sydney show.
"It's been an incredible journey," she told the at-capacity audience at the Hordern Pavilion on Friday night.
"I'm going to cry.
"I'm really surprised honestly. I didn't know this many people connected to me."
"I'm really grateful 'cause I really do put my heart in my music."
The singer, who is known professionally as Tems but whose full name is Temilade Openiyi, had earlier walked on stage to rapturous applause as fans eagerly awaited her set.
"The energy is crazy," she said.
A roar went up when she mentioned her debut studio album Born in the Wild, released in June.
Her voice soared through the crowd, bouncing off the walls as people cheered and cheered and cheered as she sang songs from the album including Turn Me Up and Love Me JeJe. JeJe means softly, the song paying homage to Tems's childhood and upbringing in Nigeria.
The audience lapped it all up.
"Well, I think I'm falling in love with you guys," Tems said.
When you thought the crowd couldn't get any louder, Tems mentioned her next song would be Burning.
Camera phones went up and people swayed from side to side. There were so many people in the audience, they didn't have the full range of motion like Tems did on stage, hips gyrating.
She later took her fans back to her debut track Mr Rebel, released in July 2018.
"It's the very first song I ever had," she told the audience.
Tems freestyles as fan becomes inspiration for song
Tems even disembarked from the stage at one point, meeting fans face-to-face and freestyling a song in which the name of an audience member she was serenading became the hook of the song.
Another fan gripped her hand tightly as they sang one of her songs together, the fan, who didn't skip a lyric, taking over.
When Tems launched into Wizkid's hit song Essence on which she features, and which also has a rendition featuring Justin Bieber, there were hands in the air and even those sitting down were seated no longer, dancing in front of their seats.
She rounded out the show with Free Mind from 2020's For Broken Ears. It was another song that had the audience hyped.
It was a diverse crowd – men and women of so many different ethnicities, young, older, a few mullets. Sydney came out in force to see the star.
Tems also sold out shows in Melbourne and Brisbane on this tour.
The last time she was in town, in October 2023, she performed to sold-out but smaller crowds at her debut headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne, also performing at the Promiseland Festival on the Gold Coast.
She will need a bigger venue next time around too. ABC News is aware of people on the waiting list who could not get tickets to Friday night's show.
Earlier, an emotional Soli, who was Tems's support act, told the crowd it was her first-ever tour and she expressed appreciation for those who arrived early to see her support "the queen Tems".
Afrobeats riding a wave of popularity with Tems a key player in its success
When the 2025 Grammys nominations list was announced, Tems's name came up several times.
She's up for three gongs, making her the African artist with the most nominations – Best African Music Performance for Love Me JeJe, Best Global Music Album for Born in the Wild and Best R&B Song for Burning.
Her previous Grammy win was in 2023 – Best Melodic Rap Performance for her collaboration with Future featuring Drake on Wait For U.
The Lagos-based artist has been a fixture in popular culture since Essence became the first Afrobeats song to enter the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. She has since been honoured with the Breakthrough Award at Billboard's 2024 Women in Music Awards.
She's collaborated with Beyoncé, Future, Drake, J Cole, Asake and Tyla to name a few and was on the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. She was nominated at the 95th Academy Awards for Best Original Song for her contribution as a songwriter on Lift Me Up from the Wakanda Forever soundtrack, performed by Rihanna.
Born In the Wild is her first full-length release since her 2021 EP If Orange Was A Place.
With billions of global streams and multiple accolades, Tems is at the forefront of Afrobeats and its global takeover.
Source: ABC
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