My Mother Has Been Using Music To Blackmail Me Since I Was A Child – Ayra Starr

Popular Afrobeats star, Ayra Starr has opened up on the reason she got into the university at age 14.

According to the singer, she had to rush her education because her mother insisted that she would not be allowed to go into music until she was done with her tertiary education.

She disclosed this in a recent interview with American media giant Billboard News.

The singer said she wanted to be a teenage pop star, so she had to hurriedly take JAMB and meet up with her mother’s condition of becoming a graduate before going into music.

According to Ayra Starr, “I got into the university at 14. I feel like my mum has been using music to blackmail me since I was a child. She was like, ‘If you want to do music, you have to do this.’ When she suggested we relocate to Lagos from Benin Republic, I declined initially but she convinced me that Lagos is the land of music.

“She insisted that if I want to do music, I would have to finish school first. Usually, a lot of people in Nigeria finish secondary school at 15, 16.

“I knew that if I waited till I’m 15 [before completing my secondary school], I won’t be able to be a teenage pop star. And I wanted to be a teenage pop star. So, I joined my elder brother and wrote JAMB, what you guys called SAT here.

“To be honest, the result wasn’t crazy to get me onto all these Ivy League schools but it was enough to pass by. It was enough for my mum.

“I got admitted into a good school. My course was for three years. It was International Relations. And immediately after my graduation, I started doing music covers online and that same year I got signed [to Mavin Records label].”