“My mum has been using music to blackmail me since I was a child” – Ayra Starr

Afrobeat sensation, Ayra Starr has disclosed that she believes her mum used music to blackmail her to do things since she was a child.

Recounting her journey into the music space, Ayra Starr disclosed how her mum used to tell her what to do if she wanted to go into the music industry and how she could be successful in the music industry. 

Ayra Starr recounted how her mother made her complete her degree at age 14 and also relocated to Lagos by using her dream of being a musician to blackmail her.

Starr recounted: “I got into the university at 14. I feel like my mum has been using music to blackmail me since I was a child. She was like, ‘If you want to do music, you have to do this.’ When she suggested we relocate to Lagos from Benin Republic, I declined initially, but she convinced me that Lagos is the land of music.

“She insisted that if I wanted to do music, I would have to finish school first. Usually, a lot of people in Nigeria finish secondary school at 15 or 16. I knew that if I waited till I was 15 [before completing my secondary school], I wouldn’t be able to be a teenage pop star. And I wanted to be a teenage pop star. So, I joined my elder brother and wrote JAMB, what you guys call SAT here.

“To be honest, the result wasn’t crazy to get me onto all these Ivy League schools but it was enough to pass by. It was enough for my mum. I got admitted into a good school. My course was for three years. It was International Relations. And immediately after my graduation, I started doing music covers online and that same year I got signed [to Mavin Records label].”