Ayra Starr
- First Name
- Oyinkansola Sarah
- Last Name
- Aderibigbe
- Additional Name
- Ayra Starr
- Date of Birth
- June 14, 2002
- Place of Birth
- Cotonou, Benin, Nigeria
- Discography
- 19 & Dangerous (2021), The Year I Turned 21 (2024)
The Afrobeats singer born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe chose the stage name “Ayra,” meaning honorable and respected in Arabic. Then, she chose the surname “Starr” because she knew what she could be. Her first album, 2021’s 19 & Dangerous, speaks to her undeniable power, something she wields with caution and confidence. She scored a viral hit with the single “Bloody Samaritan” and in 2023 earned her first Grammy nomination in the inaugural Best African Music Performance category. In a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, she had her sights set on greatness. “I will keep finding myself, and I’ll learn things about myself I want the world to learn too, and I’ll try to teach it through my music,” she said.
Raised between Benin and Nigeria, Ayra is dedicated to preserving African rhythms and language in her work. She sings in English, Pidgin English and Yoruba and often writes songs with her brother Milar. Her mom is a former singer and she has an aunt who rapped. When Ayra was small, the women would covertly coax her and her siblings into songwriting competitions. “We didn’t even know that’s what it was then,” says Ayra. Her mom and aunt would give the kids an hour to come up with something and a word to start them off. By ten, Ayra was imagining whole albums.
After starting college at 14, she continued to pursue music at her mother’s behest, even though she started to become cognizant of gender imbalances in the West African music industry. She says she saw the way men in some parts of the region could sing of vices and challenges that wouldn’t be tolerated in women’s lyrics. She thought of becoming her brother’s manager rather than a star herself, but her mom encouraged her to still upload videos of herself performing online.
She started recording with the storied Nigerian producer Don Jazzy the day they met in December of 2019. Since 2004, Don Jazzy has been the force behind Afrobeats hits like D’Banj’s G.O.O.D. Music crossover “Oliver Twist.” Jazzy reached out to Ayra just three hours after she posted an original song, “Damaged” (now called “Toxic” on her 19 & Dangerous). By June of 2020, she signed to his label, Mavin Records, alongside stars like Rema. She released her first EP in January 2021, roughly a year after her first studio session. — Mankaprr Conteh