Teni: ‘Music Chose Me’

Teni’s face lights up when she talks about her hometown of Lagos. As she draws parallels between the Nigerian metropolis and New York City, she acknowledges the “hustle and bustle” of the city while crediting the fast-paced chaos for developing her strict work ethic. But at the root is her family, who instilled in her a deep sense of community, confidence and resilience at a very young age. 

Within minutes of hopping on Zoom, the Afrobeats singer-songwriter is opening up about the most transformative experience of her life—the assassination of her father, Simeon Apata, a retired army brigadier general, civilian war veteran, and founder of the prestigious Apata Memorial High School in Lagos. 

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On January 8, 1995, several gunmen raided Apata’s home and fatally shot him in front of his family. Teni, just 2 years old at the time, was forced to witness the appalling scene unfold through a lens of innocence. Although she may not have realized it then, the trauma of such horrific violence pierced through every facet of her being. Apata’s death changed their family dynamic forever, but it also gave Teni purpose. Even today, at 31, she lives in a way to honor her father, making music to heal her soul and, in turn, the souls of others. 

“Dad’s Song,” for example, was written after watching a video of Apata’s open casket funeral. The emotive track, taken from Teni’s 2021 debut, WONDALAND, is written like a love letter to her father, albeit one he’ll never have the opportunity to read.

“Guess what?/I’m dropping my first album in a bit,” she sings. “I got a couple hits/And I know you wish/You wish that you were here for this/Just to witness this/Daddy last night I had a dream/And you were next to me/Telling me things/Things I cannot see about the future/That I’m a king/And I’m a king in a queen.” 

Teni admits she was initially hesitant to sing about such a deeply personal subject matter but ultimately decided to allow herself to be vulnerable. 

“At first I was like, ‘Do I want to go there?’” Teni tells me. “But I had to watch the funeral so I could get those emotions and be able to write. That was the hard part—just watching. It just made me realize and appreciate life. It was a reminder to appreciate the people that are in your life, that you can touch right now. “Unfortunately I was robbed of having my father in my life. That was not my choice. He was killed, he was assassinated. So that’s something that I can never have.”

Despite the immense loss Teni suffered, she’s honored to be in the current position she’s in and doesn’t take it for granted. She believes music has always been her fate. After playing the drums as a child and joining her school band at age 10, she graduated from the same school her father founded. She then split her time between Lagos and Georgia, where she attended the University of Georgia in Athens and finished a degree in business administration at American InterContinental University. Naturally, she was exposed to a cornucopia of different genres and sounds, inspiring her to make her own material. 

“Music chose me,” she says. “It’s such a privilege to know music and be able to use my voice to tell stories and express how I feel.” 

Teni’s music career began picking up steam in 2017 with the release of her single “Fargin,” though her breakthrough came a year later with “Askamaya” and ”Case.” In 2018, the former was ranked No. 15 on MTV Base’s year-end list of the Top 20 Hottest Naija Tracks and Temi won Rookie of the Year at The Headies (formerly known as the Hip Hop World Awards). The blossoming star was then named YouTube Music’s Trending Artist on the Rise in 2019 and won multiple trophies at The Headies for her work on “Case” and “Uyo Meyo” that same year. She was also nominated in the Best African Act category at the MTV Europe Music Awards. 

As the pandemic hit in 2020, she continued pumping out projects, including The Quarantine Playlist and the aforementioned WONDALAND, which included the song “For You” featuring fellow Nigerian Afrobeats artist Davido. In fact, her forthcoming single, “Money,” was a result of that creative session and will finally see a proper release later this month. 

“In lockdown, I had around 10 producers living with me,” she recalls. “And I was just recording and eventually dropped The Quarantine Playlist. ‘Money’ was made in 2020. I was going to drop it, but then I thought, ‘Nah, let me just hold on to it and finish it the way I want to finish it.’”

Teni released her second studio album, Tears of the Sun, in 2023 with songs like “YBGFA (Young Black Girl From Africa),” “Jalingo,” and “Apata,” another song celebrating her father’s legacy. Once again, it puts a spotlight on the love and respect she has for her father and makes it abundantly clear how important carrying on his legacy truly is. 

“To make you, it took two parents, and to make those parents, it took four,” she says. “If you keep going back, it’s took a whole bunch of people to have you be in this moment in time, through the bloodline. We’re on assignment to enhance our bloodline. For example, the things my father could not do, it doesn’t have to be what I do, but what am I doing to enhance my bloodline? My ancestors have all died and the baton is in my hand. That’s what this is about.” 

Throughout the conversation, Teni’s inherent wisdom—which is way beyond her years—shines through. She’s well aware of her “assignment,” as she calls it, and her higher power’s purpose for her on Earth. 

“It’s prophecy,” she says. “It’s music. It’s art. Nothing’s a coincidence. It’s legacy. Someone like me, whose father was assassinated in front of all of us, you think this is a joke? It’s not a joke. It’s serious. People cried, people were hurting. Three wives and 10 kids—their hero is gone. When you’re protecting a legacy, it’s your time to actually do something that nobody in your lineage has ever done. 

“Once you do that, you’ve opened doors for more people to be able to thrive, not just in your family. Once you’re able to do certain things, you start to open doors for other people to be able to believe. It is the standards we are setting for the people coming behind us, because they’re going to continue what we’ve done.” 

And Teni is only getting started. “Money” will arrive on Friday (January 24) and her next project, Global Citizen, will follow. 

“I’m really, really excited that the song is finally coming out,” she says. “It’s my baby. I’ve held onto it for five years, and I just want the world to just hear it and feel how I felt when I made it. I just want people to listen to it and feel it and understand it because you’d be surprised. It’ll mean different things to different people, so I just can’t wait to just hear what it means to people.” 

As for writing her next hit, she says she can write “anywhere in the world,” whether that’s in Lagos or the United States—and evidently, she can do it on the spot. 

As the interview comes to a close, she asks me to give her one word. I tell her my word for 2025 is “grace;” grace for myself and grace for others. She immediately flips it into a song and delicately sings, “This year, this year, I’m giving myself some grace/I’m not gonna be too hard, too hard on myself/Oh this year, this year, I’m giving myself grace/Oh, yes, I’m not gonna be too hard, too hard on myself/I’m gonna be grateful, I’m gonna appreciate you/I‘m gonna thank God for everything that he has done.” 

It’s impossible not to fall in love with Teni after that; her transcendent spirit coupled with her musical gifts are a gift for us all. 

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