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Ayra Starr Links Her Success To Healthy Family Competition

By Chinelo Eze

28 April 2023   |   2:02 pm

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"Sabi Girl" also known as Ayra Starr, has revealed in a recent interview with Variety that her success can be linked to healthy family competition while growing up. She said, "My aunty and my mom made us compete for the tiniest thing. Literally, if there was chocolate, they would say “Everyone — write the best…

Ayra Starr

“Sabi Girl” also known as Ayra Starr, has revealed in a recent interview with Variety that her success can be linked to healthy family competition while growing up.

She said, “My aunty and my mom made us compete for the tiniest thing. Literally, if there was chocolate, they would say “Everyone — write the best song about chocolate.” If we wanted the TV remote control, we would have to learn every word of a Nicki Minaj song. That’s the type of environment I grew up in.”

The rising star in the Afropop scene, always believed that she was destined for greatness getting signed with Mavin Records in three days.

Ayra’s journey began when she posted an original song online with her brother when she was 18. The next day, her executive producer called her and invited her to the studio. In three days, she was signed to Mavin Records which launched her career as it is today with “Bloody Samaritan,” an R&B smash that gained traction worldwide.

In the interview, she defines the latest term “Sabi Girl” as “someone who is knowledgeable, informed, and good at everything. In Nigerian pidgin, “sabi” means “to know,” so a “sabi girl” is like an “It” girl or a baddie in American slang.”

She talked about how she had always been confident as a child which got her in trouble. “As a child, I had a lot of confidence in myself that sometimes got me in trouble. I always stood out in my own way, but it wasn’t about being the finest person in the room, it was just being me.

She goes on to reveal the family support she has gotten in her career and how this was nurtured from being a child. “my parents have always supported my music career. Ever since I was five years old, my mom knew that music was what my brother and I were going to do. She encouraged us to write songs, and when we got a guitar with only two strings, we made it work and serenaded the neighbourhood. My mom always said that school came first, and if I went to school, I could sing whatever I wanted.

Detailing her dream collaborations, she lists, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, and Burna Boy.