Teenage Sierra Leonean sensation, Boii, steps into the Afrobeats scene as both a spark and an outlier. Her cross continental influences, textured vocals and exciting harmonies crept up on a wider radar last year, following the release of her hit song, “Love Na Scam”. Before that, she’d begun a stealthy run for stardom with a slew of singles, including her 2021 debut “Paper”, and 2023’s “Good Vibes”, “Credit Alert” and “Sangere”.

Now, with her just-released 8-tracker debut EP, ‘Money or Honey’, Boii, born Boiimanya Koroma, is introducing a broader range of depth to her artistry, steeped in party-starting Afrobeats bops and soul-stirring love anthems. Within Afrobeat’s male-dominated scene, Boii’s ascent is as personal as it gets for her. “I was deeply inspired by the women I grew up listening to; and I want to challenge stereotypes and make music that makes you emote,” she tells The Guardian.

Catching up with Guardian Music, the young superstar opens up on her come-up journey; her earliest musical influences; creative process; new project; and her effervescent mission to create evergreen music.

When did you start your journey in music?

On a professional level, I started about five years ago, when I just started to record. Before that, I sang at church and also at a few birthday parties. I was doing that from age six.

How did you discover your passion for music?

My interest and overall passion for music has always been something that has existed since I was born. I grew up in a very musically oriented home. My mom was always playing music while we deep-cleaned on weekends. I grew up listening to so many old Afrobeat bangers, and I admired a lot of musicians. It really sparked the ambition in me.

Any parallel ambitions?

Prior to starting music, I always wanted to do some professional job that would help people. I’m a very humanitarian person. When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor, but I later figured I can’t properly handle working with blood. So, now I’m actually studying law, and I find it interesting.

Can you remember the first song you ever made?

I made a song called “Not Enough” with a Sierra Leonean artist here called Mike. I was like 15, and I was thinking about not being enough for a guy I wanted a relationship with at that time. It was pretty fun, and it was a really cool song.

How did you hone your Afrobeats fusion?

I feel entirely in our society, a lot of people really fight for authenticity and try to be extremely original. However, I feel like you can only be so special and so authentic; sometimes, you really just have to get inspired from others. Having listened to a lot of deep Afrobeats, I really didn’t have any limits when it came to music — as long as it sounded good. Again, my music is highly influenced by the women I grew up listening to in African music. I’m very much into Brenda Fassie, Tiwa Savage, Dija, Ayra Starr and Uncle Waffles. I’m heavily inspired by their personalities as well. You know, you see some people, and they have such a good vibe, and you just imagine what that vibe would sound like if it was a song.

You seem to have a knack for making love songs.

Actually, everything is on my radar, and I wouldn’t say love is actually my niche. For me, I’d say whatever is on my mind at that moment when I am recording. I’ve come to realise that nothing is eternal. So you just have to enjoy it as it happens in that moment. And that’s what I try to do with my music too. So, if I’m feeling lovey dovey, I’m gonna sing about being lovey dovey. If I am heartbroken or I go to the club, I’d sing about those experiences. I just try to make evergreen songs.

Do you have any records dropping soon?

I do. It’s called “money or honey.”

What are we to expect with this?

You’re supposed to expect everything great and wonderful. It’s a great project, and I listen to it so much. I’m obviously my number one fan, apart from my mom. But you should just expect everything to be really good, lovely and cute music, and it’s a project that I really poured my heart into. I tried to flip the script, making songs that are confidently from the perspective of a woman serenading a man. It’s not common in Afrobeats at this time, because it’s mostly men glazing women or women glazing themselves. I tried to make it relatable but also very unique.

How did you coin the name, BOII?

In all my 20 years of being alive, I feel like that’s the greatest idea I’ve ever had. I really can’t beat having a fandom named boyfriend and my name being Boii. However, my actual name is actually Boiimanya. It’s a Sierra Leonean name for the first female child. Growing up, a lot of people could not pronounce the name, and it used to piss me off so bad; I got tired of correcting everybody, so I told people to call me Boii. And it stuck. Also, I consider myself to be extremely girly. I just love how flabbergasted people get when they see me and are shocked to not see a boy.

What are some Afrobeats collaborations you have on your radar?

Tiwa Savage. I am obsessed with that woman. I love what she embodies. I love who she is, and I just love her backstory. I appreciate her talent. And even if she wasn’t as big and globally recognised as she is already, I would definitely be her number one fan. I’ve worked with Boypee, who is also another great artist from Nigeria. I’ve not seen someone sing with so much passion as he does. I always used to just sit there in awe and admire how he sings every note with so much emotion. I would also really love to work with Qing Madi. I love her voice, and I also love her style.

Do you have a typical creative process?

It’s usually that I probably hear a beat and I’m like, oh, that sounds so good — this and this would sound really great on it. And then I’ll just get in the studio and try to get a concept. I think the most important thing for me when making a song is always to get a borderline concept of where the song is gonna go. Because I love telling a story in a song. I love having hidden context in a song. I love people listening to a song one time, and they think it’s this, and then they listen again, and they’re like, ‘oh, wow!’ And I’m like, ‘yeah.’ So I enjoy that. I really pay attention to context and what the song is going to be about. I really want to think, what’s the idea with this? Am I going to sing about this type of situation or that type of situation? So that’s the first part.

And I said I do Law— I was very, very much into Literature when I was back in school. I really loved Literature, and I loved Shakespeare’s poems and stuff like that. And my teacher used to heavily just make me over-read certain things that were in a poem, like to just pay too much attention to rhyme scheme, be like, he meant this when he was writing this. He probably didn’t.

So I like to put that into my music too. I like to give rhyme schemes a meaning, give lines a meaning, and I really just put a lot into that. Yeah, just put me in a studio with a great producer, great beats, and yeah — get a good song out of it.

What are you up to when you’re not making music?

I’m probably slaughtering dragons, saving princesses, or jumping volcanoes. I’m kidding, but what am I technically doing? I’d say I’ll probably be doing makeup in my room. I really love to do my makeup. I also really like going out with my friends. I really like quality time with people I care about around me, because I feel like that greatly makes you grounded in yourself, especially being in such a scene. So I like hanging out with my mom, my dad, my siblings, and my friends.

Finally, what do you want people to experience from your music in the long run?

In the long run, I want people to feel something impactful and genuine. I want to be a global star. I want to be known for who I am, because I do feel apart from making music and being in the forefront in front of people, I have so much more to offer when it comes to what I have to say and what I believe in.