Ayra Starr Is A Spotify EQUAL Africa Artist in Addition to Her Global Status Spotify’s EQUAL initiative provides a worldwide platform for female musicians by means of playlists, content centers, and partnerships.
Senior Artist & Label Partnerships Manager for Spotify in Sub-Saharan Africa, Monica Kemoli-Savanne, states:
“We at Spotify are committed to supporting and empowering women in the music industry, helping to create a more fair playing field. Africa is plenty of potential; all it takes is a platform, as seen by the success of singers like Ayra Starr who were born on the continent.
Seeing the development of female artists who are also influencing future generations has been an amazing journey, and it further demonstrates our dedication to providing equitable support for female artists.
The program’s effectiveness and reach are further demonstrated by the fact that Spotify hosted 15 EQUAL activations, over 14.8 million artist discoveries came from EQUAL playlists, and 11,800 editorial playlist additions went to EQUAL artists in 2023.
Ayra Starr discussed how her expressive musical style has allowed her carve out a niche for herself in the music industry and what it means to her to be chosen as Spotify’s EQUAL artist. Her February album, Commas, has already received over 35 million plays on Spotify.
“I’m honored to join Spotify EQUAL Ambassadors. Being able to represent African women in general and women in Afrobeats specifically means a great deal to me.
The EQUAL program is doing a fantastic job of recognizing the efforts of the many women who are now working in the music industry. Ayra Starr and I had a sit-down to talk more about her music and artistic process:
In your opinion, what is the significance of the Spotify EQUAL program? Today’s music industry is dominated by women, many of whom work tirelessly as sound engineers, musicians, producers, behind-the-scenes workers, and Spotify EQUAL is doing a fantastic job of showcasing their efforts.
Being featured as Spotify’s EQUAL artist for the month—from an African and global standpoint—what does this mean to you personally? Since I’m a girl and have to level the playing field and support my gender, it means the world to me. How would you characterize the sound, tone, and style of your music to someone who hasn’t heard it? I consider my music to be really unusual, beautiful, distinctive, and vibrating.
Do you have any new music coming out soon? Indeed.
I’m excited for you all to hear my new tune, “Bad Vibes,” which I co-wrote with Seyi Vibes. It’s one of those tunes that lifts your spirits and it’s fantastic.
The nicest thing about it is that it’s not simply your typical Afrobeat record—rather, it’s a mash-up of many genres.
Listen to the song “Commas” by Ayra Starr on the EQUAL Africa and Global playlists.
