The piano melodies beckon. Then, ascends, a humming intro. After that, adlibs, a surely gracious voice. It’s rather an infrequent working of a mezzo-soprano. You know, there and then, you are in for some great artistry. And you are.

I have listened to the song for literally six months and I have not wanted to stop.

“Try me” is it; the spellbinding single from Nigeria’s up and coming Tems.

It is not your ordinary Afropop dingdong. It is an amalgamation of really great music genius – a flawless arrangement of RnB/HipHop musicality, rather reminiscent of American songbird, H.E.R, except Tems has a subtle edge – the unusual boyish texture of her voice and the mastering of her sound which, straight down, is alien to parts of the world outside Africa.

Tems’s song has this X-factor, such as in South Africa’s Zahara’s “Loliwe” – the raw storytelling – which is like the color of African Sound that consecrates music as a transcendent minister. It has to do with the instrumentalization of the human voice in concert with sound-producing objects – not independent of what ambiance the lyrics envisage – to carry the soul into unknown realms.

Kudos to Tems and her team for pulling this off – not that she must hit the same mark in the next track. I am just saying; in “Try Me” she has brought out the exceptionalism of the artform – even in what she sings about, and how she executed it in the video.

She certainly is a talent to watch.

Watch Video Here