Read the first piece of our Grammys 2024 series on Tyla’s “Water” here.
There are several descriptions to employ in service ofAyra Starr’s stellar craft and magnetic personality: She’s an ultra-confident song-maker even when she’s in vulnerability mode, her voice is a golden runway for effortlessly catchy melodies, and her personal standards often trump conservative, societal values. The best part is that she always seems well aware of the traits that make her special, to the point of unshakeable self-belief.
Through the Nigerian singer’s ascent into the upper echelon of Afrobeats stardom, the 2022 single “Rush” best captures her moment of assertion. Where earlier standouts like “Bloody Samaritan” and “Fashion Killa,” off her debut album 19 & Dangerous, were showy statements, “Rush” was an instant proclamation. It’s the work of an artist who has now fully bought into her own hubris. Whether you believed her raps or not was inconsequential, Ayra Starr very much did, and that was the most important thing.
In Nigerian music, there’s a thin line between self-belief and arrogance, often determined by public perception and nebulous standards for how popular persons should carry themselves with regards to their fortune and fame. Self-belief is a virtue for listeners, arrogance not so much. On “Rush,” Ayra Starr toes that line with unflappable swagger. “Sabi girl no dey too like talk/Animals dey in human form,” she sings in that now-anthemic opening line sequence, rolling her eyes at unbelievers over celestial keys and funky drums.
Ayra Starr – Rush (Official Music Video)
The irreverent digs are multiple and effortless. “You never touch, you dey form papas/which kind money we never see before?” is scalding on the one hand, but also a delightful flex on the other. For relatability points, she credits The Divine as the source of her sauce: “Na God dey make my tap dey rush.” This religious aspect pre-emptively upends any charges of unnecessary overconfidence, echoing the Christian truism, “One with God is a majority.” There’s nothing Nigerians love more than someone who defers to The Almighty.
From the moment Ayra Starr was unveiled as the newest Mavin Records signee in the opening days of 2021, it seemed like her path to stardom was certain. By the end of her debut year as an artist, she’d set herself up as a burgeoning powerhouse popstar, proven by a well-received EP, an album that has strong considerations as a Nigerian pop classic, and an inescapable hit with “Bloody Samaritan.” So, when she sang, “E dey rush,” there was no overstatement.
Hit songs can be fickle things, in-the-moment fads that disappear after the proverbial fifteen seconds. The huge songs that transcend beyond that initial moment leave seismic cultural marks. For “Rush,” that’s its pidgin-sung hook, now a part of everyday Nigerian lexicon. Describing abundance, or alluding to abundance in a teasing context, “E dey rush” is the perfect example of how a catchy line becomes pop culture fixture, and helps elevate a beloved star into a charismatic figure. This is no longer just the Ayra Starr rebuking “vibe killers,” she was becoming too big to fail or be distracted by unbelievers. “Me no get the time for the hate and the bad energy/Got my mind on my money.”
“Rush” anointed Ayra Starr as “Sabi Girl,” a title that’s now key to how she’s perceived and addressed these days. It’s the song that has now earned her the “Grammy-nominated” tag, and could possibly earn her a highly-coveted prize on “music’s biggest night.” Ayra Starr can be arrogant all she wants; in fact, it’s a virtue for her now.
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