Photos: Tems Brings 'Born in the Wild' Tour to the Concrete Jungle

Here, is one of the most revered music spaces in the world, Radio City Music Hall. Thursday night’s sold-out show is part of the multiple continent-spanning tour the Grammy-winning singer has been on since mid-June, which, after a few more U.S. dates, will take her to Australia next.

Here, is New York City’s concrete jungle, to which Tems brought a little golden-hour magic in the form of her Afrobeats-tinged R&B, laced with stories of love lost and found. Against a backdrop of images showing a changing sky, from scenes of sunset to dusk to nightfall and, finally, a full moon, Tems rooted her show in the quest for a higher self and the sense of expansiveness that plays out on Born in the Wild, her debut album. Tracks like "Burning" (which she filmed the music video for on the streets outside the venue), "Wickedest," and "Unfortunate" fed into the love she gave to her previous EPs as well – bookending the night with "Crazy Tings" and "Free Mind."

In between a few sniffles – she told fans she had a cold but was going to “dance it away” – Tems promised a night to remember, and made good on that by adding a few surprises to her set. In a moment that signified the pride she feels for her fellow Naija artists, she lauded all the women musicians coming out of Africa as she announcedAyra Starr, and then accompanied her on the sabi girl’s Grammy-nominated track, "Rush." It was a beautiful sharing of the spotlight with her West African sister. Later, she introducedJohn Legend by saying she used to cover "Ordinary People," before the pair had the audience swooning with their duet version. Both moments showed how far Tems has come since 2018, and how she’s now a bona fide star, both abroad and at home, self-assuredly taking up her rightful place on a global stage.