Ayra Starr is Ready For Her Next phase – The ’19 & Dangerous’ Artist on Confidence, Upbringing and What She Sees For Her Future

Afrobeats as a genre, a culture and a movement is taking over the world one song and artist at a time. It’s impossible to sit back and not see the continent’s monopolisation of the charts, the parties and the diasporic experience worldwide – and it’s all with such effortless and uncompromising ease. There’s a unique energy behind each and every artist that you can’t get anywhere else – and 20 year old Ayra Starr is no exception to this rule. After a year of performances, features on Stormzy and Wizkid’s latest projects, being featured in No Signals annual Yearbook, the release of her 19 & Dangerous Deluxe album – it’s clear to see Starr – as her name suggests – is a refreshing and unwavering ray of youth and confidence destined for greatness. On our rainy day in the studio we conversed about where exactly this confidence stems from, how her name is a manifestation of her success, what it’s like being a part of The Mavin Records cohort and more.

Congrats on the release of the 19 & Dangerous deluxe – the reception has been amazing. How do you feel , now that it’s out seeing everyone’s responses and reactions?

I feel so relieved. It wasn’t until it came out did I really get into the mindset that my deluxe album is actually out because I was just working, I’m still doing other things but now I’m at that place where I’m so relieved and just so grateful.

The original 19 & Dangerous project came out a year ago – what made you decide that you wanted to revisit the project and expand on it? 

I always knew I wanted to do a deluxe because 19 & Dangerous to me is a classic project and I want to revisit it. I had a phase where I was really unsure and I didn’t know if I wanted a deluxe – this was like a month before it came out. I was ready to enter a new phase. But I spoke to my team about it and they explained to me why it’s so important to have a deluxe – it just made sense. 19 & Dangerous is a classic album and it’s just a good way to end that era before I jump into another phase. 

What do you think your next phase is going to be?

20 and …….. We’ll see! But it’s about to be crazy though. 

Your growth has been amazing since your first EP and now – you’ve grown so much sonically and even personally. For you, what is the difference between the spaces you were in then and the one you’re in now?

Then, I was literally like a child. I’m still a young girl but at that time I was literally a child. Just life was so new. It’s still very new and there’s still a lot to see but at that time I’d not really seen anything and I was writing music from a very teenage point of view because that’s the way my life was then. Now, I’ve learnt a lot and the music I’m making now is from my experience from what I’ve learnt so far. At that time I was making music more about what I want to see and how I want to see life.

Talking about growth as well, how have you handled that especially in the age of social media? How has that been for you? Comparing those two different spaces?

Oh my god. To be honest I can’t really take credit and be like oh I did this and I did that and I had to do this to be like this. I’m just grateful for where I am now, being around people always keeps my head straight and I’m just grateful to God for bringing me this far.

Let’s talk about the Bloody Samaritan remix with Kelly Rowland – how did that come about? 

Kelly Rowland actually made a video for Fashion Killer and I remember the video was on The Shade Room and I was like Oh My God, I’ve blown, don’t talk to me again. I wasn’t picking up anybody’s calls again so I was already following her from there and then one of her friends posted a story of him listening to the song and was like ‘Kelly Rowland, jump on the remix’. And I reposted it like ‘yes Kelly Rowland, jump on the Remix’. Then two days later she messaged me and was like ‘this remix…how do we do it.’ So I sent it to her, like a week after she sent me her verse. I remember when I first heard the verse I was just like … ‘on my own song?!?!’ Is it a competition?!? But she came through, she bodied. 

The collaboration between you two is beautiful and very reflective of the rise in cross continent collaborations happening in Afro-Beats right now. I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on women’s contributions to the rise and globalisation of Afrobeats right now?

I’m so inspired by so many women in afrobeats. Even before afrobeats became so globalised and everybody was listening to it, a lot of people on Afrobeats were women in American music. Like Beyonce – it was women that were hopping on the afrobeats trend even before other artists were. Now, it’s so funny how five years ago there were only like 3 women in afrobeats, literally only 3 women and you could mention them because we knew them – there were no other women in afrobeats. And now you have so many women and they’re doing so well and so amazing and it’s so inspiring. We’re unstoppable at this point.

I also love how you come from a very unique perspective because obviously you’re so young. Even with the first track on the album entitled ‘Cast (Gen-Z Anthem)’ and the project title too – do you feel like a sort of Afro Beats Gen-Z ambassador?

Definitely! I don’t know where it comes from but I feel like I have this responsibility to kind of show my generation what we can be and what we can do and I think I’m doing that through my music. I’ve always wanted to be a teenage popstar because I never saw that growing up and all the teenage pop stars I saw were white – there were no black teenage pop stars. I remember being like ‘I want to be a teenage popstar, I want my younger sister and her friends to be able to watch my videos and say I want to be that’ That’s why I still do things like wear pink, because I want girls to be able to feel powerful when they see me. I feel like I have a responsibility to do that for my generation and the generation that’s coming. I want to inspire people.

A lot of young black girls can definitely relate to you From the way you dress, the way you do your makeup, your hair – everything. When you write do you think about how people will take that in and how do you want people to take in the things that you create?

I try not to write specifically for how people will take it. I just allow the creativity to flow and I just allow God to use me when I make my music. I feel like once you’re too aware , it removes the essence from it. Like when you try to make music for ‘this’ it removes the purpose. I mostly make music from my experience and what I have seen and somehow people can relate to it, and that’s perfect because it’s real. 

With making music from life experiences, that’s an extremely vulnerable thing to do and put that out there into the world. Does it ever feel daunting to you knowing that you’re releasing a body of work that lays bare your thoughts and experiences?

It’s not even just MY thoughts. This is why my friends don’t talk to me about anything because they’re like ‘Ayra you better not write a song about this’. So when I hear stories and read stuff it can also inspire my music. It can be very annoying but I want people to be able to be vulnerable – it’s something I talk about all the time. When I do shows I’m always like – I know you guys want to dance but just take this ten minutes to just sing with me. As Africans why is it so weird to be vulnerable? Why is it seen as bad to be vulnerable just for a moment. As much as it scares me to be, like I said, I feel like I have a responsibility to so people can see that and feel free and relate to that.

Speaking about the vulnerable side, there’s definitely also a very big sense of confidence and this bad bitch energy …. If you could describe the 19 & Dangerous energy – what is that?

The 19 & Dangerous energy is like a compilation of all my years as a self aware human being. I remember being 10 years old and being the most confident person. My confidence as a 10 year old … crazy. I’d walk into any room and be like ‘I’m a superstar’.  I don’t know why but I was just that confident and I remember from then till when I was 13 I was no longer confident again then I turned 15 I was confident again – I just grew up and learnt so much and 19 & Dangerous is a compilation of that learning and growing. Going from confidence to also being vulnerable and being sad and also ‘you know what I’m actually bad, why am I sad’ then go back again. Just that compilation of vulnerability and confidence. 

You’re signed and work with Don Jazzy and your record label has had such a huge contribution to the globalisation of afrobeats and they champion so many amazing afrobeats artists – how does it feel to be a part of that cohort? 

I feel like that’s the thing that also makes me so happy and confident because I don’t know how it is. When you’re in my record label, you’re in an academy before you release and you’re never told ‘this is the best record label’ .. never. The owner never says anything like that he just allows you to do you, record what you want and find yourself. Just that gave me so much confidence. Everyone from my record label has so much confidence. Just the way we carry ourselves – we know what we are. What I see from Rema and the other people – I take that confidence too. It’s definitely family. 

Your name Ayra Starr – it’s like a manifestation of your success in life. Do you feel like you’ve always been drawn to music and why do you think that is?

To be honest we can never know why. But my family was into music big time. My uncles were musicians, my auntie was doing reggae – going to the studio and everything. I didn’t know I was going to do music but music was such a big part of my family. Every year we had one artist that everyone was obsessed with and you had no choice but to be obsessed with that artist too. Like I would know the birthday of this artist, I’ll know every single word , everything. Where I grew up, you couldn’t really go out or make friends outside because it was dangerous so I literally have four siblings and we all had to stay home and just think of ways to have fun. We’d write songs together, have choreography competitions, go shopping for outfits – it was like that. All those little things, they’ve shaped me now. So I always knew I was going to do music at some point, I didn’t know when exactly but I knew I wanted to be a teenage popstar so every single decision I made was for this moment now. 

Going back to your upbringing and family life – you’ve moved around a lot. Do you think that’s had some influence on the music you make or the way you navigate life? 

Definitely. I grew up in three different cultural settings, it’s so crazy. Lagos is like New York, everyone is trying to make it. Abuja is very conservative – it’s Muslim. I went to public school in Abuja so I got to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds or write music about someone’s life from people telling me stories. One of my friends had to get married at 14 and she was so young but it was very normalised – and I wrote a song about her. Things like that. I was around Francophone people, English people and it’s helped me be very versatile when it comes to making music because I want to make music for everyone. I want people from different cultural backgrounds to be able to listen and relate to my sound. 

What are you listening to right now?

Right now I’m listening to a lot of underground afrobeats artists that people have not caught onto yet. Tyreke, Me of course, Reggae – a lot of modern reggae music, Beyonce, Rihanna. I love the new song so much – written by Tems. 

So new project… are you planning a tour anytime soon, do you want to tour and where do you want to go?

Yes definitely! I want to go everywhere, I want to go around the world. Probably next year by God’s grace. I’m just ready to make more music. This year I didn’t tour per say but I did so many performances – at festivals etc – I went almost everywhere this year and I feel like it prepared me into this second phase. It’s shaped me in a way because now I know how to perform to people who don’t even know who I am. I’m way more confident – you don’t even need to know my music, I’m going to make you know it by the time I leave this stage. 

Listen to 19 & Dangerous (Deluxe) Below and click here for more from GUAP’s Music section.