African Music Culture

Tems Grammy Win 2025 Shines Grace on Her Music Career

tems grammy win
Written by See Africa Today

Tems Grammy win in 2025 is such a defining moment for Africa’s music scene. She is the only African artist who won at the 67th edition of the Grammy Awards. This is the second time that the Nigerian artist won the prestigious award. She described herself as a ‘child of Grace’ following her second Grammy in just two years.

California’s Crypto.com Arena hosted the 67th Annual Grammy Awards as is the norm. It remained a favourite venue for the Academy for many years and was previously called Staples Center until 2021 when it changed its name.

Tems Grammy Win in 2025

The Damages hitmaker is now a big name in Africa’s music industry. Tems Grammy win in 2025 is a statement of a Nigerian female artist stopping at nothing to reach the zenith of her music career. Born Temilade Openiyi, she made the Naija music industry and Africa proud by winning her second Grammy Award. Her hit song Love Me Jeje won the award under the Best African Music Performance category.

Taking to the stage to receive her award, she thanked God for sending her back to the Grammy stage for a second time. She dedicated the award to her mother for her selflessness in taking care of them – her and her brother.

tems love me jeje

Nigerian songstress Tems won her second Grammy Award. Photo/OkayAfrica

Why Love Me Jeje is Special

When Tems released Love Me Jeje in May 2024, she had no idea that this song would yet again, earn her a global award. The R&B – Afrobeats-infused track gently explores the world of love. She drew inspiration from her Yoruba roots where “jeje” means ‘go easy’. She sampled the beats of Nigerian artist Seyi Sodimu who released the classic sound in 1997. Sodimu’s classics inspired her while growing up and she resolved to reimagine the beats in Love Me Jeje. The result; Tems Grammy win!

Love Me Jeje is one of the 18 songs in Tems’ debut album ‘Born in the Wild’. The album carried some of her finest musical works. She described it as a representation of her musical rebirth. Born in the Wild was six years after her debut in the Naija music industry.  She recalls freestyling the song with her friends where she got an idea to sample Sodimu’s beats for the song.

It was a way for her to honour the memories that the original song had on her while growing up. With the beats in mind, she wrote a gentle love song and laced it with a touch of modern sound while still maintaining Sodimu’s original beat. So far, this Grammy Award-winning song has racked up the following numbers:

  • 125 million streams on Spotify
  • Millions of streams on Apple Music
  • 20 million streams on YouTube

How Many Grammys Does Tems Have?

most talked about african artists 2024

Nigerian Afrcbeats artists Tems. Photo/Essence

Tems Grammy win 2025 brings her total Academy awards to two. The 30-year-old Nigerian artist won her first Grammy in 2023 under the Best Melodic Rap Performance category. She featured in Wait for U by Future which also featured Canadian rapper Drake. It was such a huge feat for her to win her first Grammy against big names such as DJ Khaled and Kendrick Lamar who had been nominated in this category.

The Economics graduate turned Naija artist dedicated her first Academy award to her mother. She is one of the few who believed in her musical dream and encouraged her to pursue it despite having ventured into the corporate world as an economist. In her words, Tems said winning in the 2023 Grammy Awards made her feel seen. It made her appreciate life more

How Many Nigerian Artists Won the Grammy Award in 2025?

Tems Grammy win makes her the only Nigerian artist who won at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. She beat the following nominees for the Best African Music Performance category:

  • Burna Boy (Higher)
  • Yemi Alade (Tomorrow)
  • Chris Brown featuring Davido & Lojay (Sensational)
  • Asake ft Wizkid (MMS)
Ayra Starr most Streamed African Artist

Ayra Starr. Photo/Unorthdox reviews

Davido and Ayra Starr led Nigerian artists in congratulating Tems on her big victory. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu joined in congratulating The Free Mind hitmaker on her second win – Tems Grammy win 2025. Tinubu said that it was encouraging that she put Nigeria on the Grammy map once more.

Winning two Grammies is such a deal breaker for Tems who launched her music career in 2018. She released Mr Rebel a self-produced hit that she followed up with Try Me in 2019. These two hits caught Wizkid who featured her in his top-selling album, Made in Lagos. The duo collaborated on Essence, the first hit to ever earn her a Grammy nomination. Tems has a total of eight Grammy nominations and two wins.

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