Grammy-winning musician Temilade Openiyi, often known as Tems, has challenged the world to look beyond stereotypes and experience African cultures, beginning with Nigeria and Ghana.
Speaking with Fashion Bomb Daily at the 2025 Met Gala in New York, Tems encouraged tourists to visit Lagos and Ghana to gain a better idea of what life in Africa is really like.
She explained that Africa’s beauty stems from its diverse cultures and inventiveness.
She said, “I always encouraged people to go to Lagos and Ghana for vacation. Just go and see for yourself before you make an opinion [about Africa]. See it for yourself and see how you feel.
“I think it [the beauty of Africa] is in the creativity, the daily efforts, the looks, the songs, the traditions and the cultures.”
Tems also spoke about how diverse African music is contrary to the global perception that it is just Afrobeats.
“We [Africans] can go further in every single aspect of sound. We are not just Afrobeats. There is Amapiano, Afrosoul, R&B, Afro Jazz. There are so many genres in African music that people are not all the way tapped into yet,” the singer said.