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Ayra Starr Always Dreamt of Being a ‘Teenage Superstar’ — At 21, She’s Confident Her Music Will ‘Reach All Different Parts of the World’


Billboard spoke with Ayra Starr ahead of the release of her second album 'The Year I Turned 21,' out Friday (May 31) via Mavin and Republic.

The Beninese-Nigerian singer-songwriter, born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, possessed a certain level of self-assurance most teenagers lack on her 2021 debut album 19 & Dangerous, where her sweet, deep vocals documented her Gen-Z coming-of-age story. She’s in her bag as much as she is in her feels, trusting God’s goodness while getting her bread in the resilient anthem “Commas” and reflecting on her hard work paying off in the acoustic ballad “1942” (For a song named after the long-necked Don Julio tequila bottle, and by an artist who turned 21 last summer, it’s not the turn-up banger you might expect). Billboard spoke with Starr about her sophomore album The Year I Turned 21, 21 Savage ’s impassioned cover of “Commas,” the heartfelt familial recording process of the LP’s closer “The Kids Are Alright,” and meeting her “idol” Rihanna.

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