Grammys: Ayra Starr is the Youngest Nigerian Female Artist nominated for a Grammy

Ayra Starr’s Grammy Award Nomination could not have come at a better time than this!

Grammy Award nominations were announced on Friday, November 10, 2023, and the Young Artist snagged herself a Grammy award nomination

Ayra Starr’s Grammy Award Nomination

Ayra Starr’s Grammy Award nomination is for the newly created category of “Best African Music Performance”. This has made her set two new records in Grammy history. These new records infers that Ayra Starr’s Grammy Award nomination has made her the Youngest Nigerian Female Artist to be nominated for a Grammy Award. Ayra Starr’s Grammy Award Nomination has also made her the First Nigerian Female Artist to be nominated in the newly added category “Best African Music Performance”

Ayra Starr was nominated for her hit song “Rush“, which spent several weeks on the UK Singles Chart, has more than 200 Million Streams on Youtube and close to 300 Million Streams on Spotify. The song is a global hit and is currently the most streamed Nigerian Female Artist Song. Ayra has also had a pretty amazing career so far both in Nigeria and abroad. Apart from Rush, “Sability” is another of her widely known hit song

In the category, Ayra Starr will be competing against Asake and Olamide’s “Amapiano”, Davido’s summer hit track “Unavailable”, Burna Boy’s “City Boys” and Tyla’s Billboard-charting hit song “Water”

While it’s a little bit tricky for Ayra to actually go home with the award because of the fierce competition in the category, being nominated in the early years of her career speaks great to her success and her journey as an artist!

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About

Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe (born 14 June 2002), known professionally as Ayra Starr, is a Nigerian singer.

Born in Cotonou, Benin, Ayra Starr began a fashion career at the age of 16 with Quove Model Management before deciding to pursue music.

Having been raised in a music-loving family, her interest in singing comes mostly from her family. At the age of 10, she sang in a high school choir and began writing songs with her brother.

She attended Les Cours Sonou University and received a BA degree in international relations and political science.

During her college years, she was often bullied by her classmates because of her age and appearance. To counter the feelings she experienced from being taunted, Ayra Starr turned to music. “I would listen to Nicki Minaj on my way to school, and I’d feel like the second Nicki Minaj.

Ayra Starr’s mother was very supportive of her musical ambitions, and always encouraged her to pursue a singing career.

After covering several songs by popular artists on Instagram, she posted her first original song on her page in December 2019.

Rush lyrics ayra starr

This brought her to the attention of record executive Don Jazzy, and led to her signing to Mavin Records.

In early 2021, Ayra Starr achieved mainstream recognition with her eponymous debut extended play and its hit track “Away” which spent two consecutive weeks at number four on Nigeria’s TurnTable Top 50 and went to number 17 on US Billboard Top Triller Global, paving the way for the release of her first full-length studio album, 19 & Dangerous in August 2021.Categorized mainly as Afropop and R&B, the album has been met with favorable critical reception.

It spawned two top forty hits in Nigeria.

The lead single “Bloody Samaritan” peaked atop the Top 50 chart, becoming the first solo song by a female artist to reach the number-one position. Starr debuted on Pandora Predictions chart, and on 28 August 2021, she ranked number two on Billboard’s Next Big Sound

With the release of her debut eponymous EP, some critics felt that her vocal technique bore a striking resemblance to Tems’ musical style. In an interview with Cool FM, Ayra Starr spoke about comparisons to Tems:

“I’m a young artist and Tems is an amazing musician, for people to compare me to such an amazing musician, it’s a compliment and I’m honoured.”

Motolani Alake, in his review of the EP for Pulse wrote that “Ayra Starr isn’t exactly a replica of Tems, but when she manipulates her vocals to stress the final syllable on words, sentences and cadences by flexing her octaves, she definitely sounds like Tems.”

Alake also opined that both artists are different and that “Tems can be more alternative while Starr is more Nigerian and more Afropop with more lamba in her soul

Although musically diverse, Ayra Starr‘s sound has predominantly been categorized as Afropop and R&B. Her voice has been described in the media as “silky”, “cozy”, “delicate”, “sturdy”, “arresting” and “soulful”, with music critics noting the dynamic nature of her range and emotional delivery.

Her lyrics are a mixture of English, Pidgin English and Yoruba, often exploring contemporary topics such as love, relationship, empowerment and freedom.