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Behind the scenes we all have our struggles. Some of us work to find different strategies to cope with these struggles (I hope) and sometimes those strategies work, sometimes they do not. There are common themes, but one thing that is very clear is that when we share our experiences, we often no longer feel so isolated. We realise that many people are feeling the same way and going through the same experiences, even though we may have arrived along a different path. For some, art is their tool. And by sharing experiences through their artistry, this can in turn inspire others to speak their truth, and know that they are not alone; know they are heard and valued. Art has always had the power to speak the truth, to inspire and to empower. EyiTemi’s recent single Fighter, does exactly this.
Released in July 2025, Fighter speaks to triumph over trauma and resilience. The lyrics are raw and EyiTemi lays herself bare for us to not only share in her experience, but relate to our own experiences. Her mantra “Every day is day one. I want people to know they can always start again.”
EyiTemi had what she describes an ‘interesting’ childhood. Born in the UK, she was sent to Nigeria without her mother and later lived with her father and five siblings and felt she was in an environment where she did not belong. These feelings have shaped her throughout her life and speak to the strength and resilience you find in her artistry.
It took such a toll on me, and I didn’t realise for a long time that the personality I had was very much based on this – thank God for therapy! Therapy and those light bulb moments when we understand more about psychology and whatever happens to a child between zero to five years is actually core to the adults they become. I went through a lot and just felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. Not because people made me feel that way, I just didn’t feel that intrinsically. So, I’ve gone through life feeling like I’ve never quite fitted in and that I needed to act a certain way to belong to the place I found myself. There were things I felt, but I couldn’t quite figure out why I was the way I was. The moment that inspired fighter, was when my cousin showed me a picture of myself when I was probably five years old. I saw that picture and emotions that I didn’t know existed literally came up in me and it was very overwhelming.
There was so much trauma that I didn’t realise I had. But rather than make me feel sad, I felt such power. I felt like I had survived a lot and that’s the absolute heart of Fighter. Surviving the traumas according to what’s happened in your life and not being subdued by that. Understanding that there is so much of a journey that you’ve made and if you must look back and take stock, or you’ll miss that. You’re so used to the fight, you’re still in your fighter mode, you forget that you’ve already won. So I think that is where I found confidence and empowerment. It came from that realisation that I have survived a lot and I feel confident going into the future because I understand the journey. I’m not scared anymore because I know that I have within me the resilience. It doesn’t mean everything will be easy, it just means that I know that I have within me the resilience to move forward.
EyiTemi by James Clifford Kent
EyiTemi only recently started her journey into the singer songwriter world in 2020, but she is not wasting any time, releasing Taking Flight (2022) LIVE @ London Jazz Festival(2023) Kaleidoscope and Vision Blurred (2024) and now Fighter this year. So you could consider EyiTemi an emerging artist, despite her years of experience, singing through her life and including working as a judge in the innovation category of BBC Jazz Awards.
I think that people in the music industry associate youth with beginning something – youth and expectations. This is when you do this and these are the structures you have in place. And for me, it’s really important for my music for people to understand my journey and for people to understand that it is possible to start and shake things up a bit. Whether it’s ourselves or society or other people saying it is too late. I am a firm believer that you can start whenever you want to start. This is core to my story. I didn’t plan any of this.
“Every day is day one. I want people to know they can always start again.”
What is also very core is, sometimes, I know for me personally anyway, when you see a journey that you feel is unbelievable, you can actually do it . I always think don’t think about Mount Everest, just take one step at a time because every step you take brings you forward. And so for me that one step, every day, is to just be kind to yourself – if you messed up yesterday, you start again. I have to remind myself of this. Start again tomorrow. Because if you don’t, you’re dragged down so much by the past you’re not able to actually see forward. So for me, I think absolutely, day one every day, it gives me the chance to try again.
Whereas the COVID lockdown period had many negative elements, it was, for some, a great time of creativity and it was in fact during this time, that EyiTemi started to develop the idea that she could be a songwriter.
EyiTemi by James Clifford Kent
I started writing in 2020. I didn’t have ambitions of being a singer songwriter, in fact, songwriting was not something I thought I could do. I knew I could sing, but compared to your Whitney Houstons, I thought I was pretty average, so I didn’t think about myself in any way special. So the idea of a career in music was ridiculous. I just love singing. I was and I still am obsessed with music. It started with me taking a walk during lockdown and coming back and literally a song just started in my head. I was a little bit scared about it thinking what do I do with this song? With lockdown, I had time, so I literally took a pen and started to write. I knew I wanted to write about my experience of my divorce as I had a really traumatic end to the relationship and so I knew I wanted to write about the pain I felt and the hope. I couldn’t play anything so I literally was writing and the music was in my head so I took my phone and hummed the music. I didn’t know how to translate my head to the paper. It was literally that ordinary. But after a while I thought I don’t know how to play any instrument, I have no pallet from which to choose what to do. So when they opened up the restrictions, I started with a piano teacher just down the road. And I said, I don’t want to play music, I just want to know how to find the chords and know what they’re called. And that’s how I started writing. I have an instinct for music and sounds that I don’t even understand. I also get songs in my dreams. I sleep and in my dream I know I’m singing a brand new song. I wake up and I’m frantically looking for my phone so I can record myself.
After attending a music event in Wales, the wonderful Welsh community introduced and recommended musicians to EyiTemi and it wasn’t long after this that she performed her first ever gig in Wales. She started working with some incredible musicians to help shape and realise her songs, eventually including Femi Temowo on Fighter.
I used to run events and I knew many established musicians – Soweto Kinch played at my wedding and Femi Temowo I knew from 20 years ago. But Wales was the starting point and then I started tapping into my London community. They bought into it very quickly. I was a novice, what did I know? They were really very patient with me because I don’t write music in the normal way. It’s all about finding the right chemistry, not just what works well together, but the heart of it. I know that sounds sentimental but I’m a very vulnerable person on stage. I’ve been incredibly lucky and now I’m like a puppy. I’m very excited about what I do and I think possibly the wonder that I still have, is maybe attractive to my musicians too.
You can see experience the wonder and chemistry yourself in this live performance at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens:
At the start of my conversation with EyiTemi, and the exploration of her journey, she told me that she felt she didn’t belong. So for my final question, I asked her if she felt that she did now belong.
So glad you asked the question because I was thinking about all of this. Music I feel saved me. The only time that I felt I belonged was from the moment I started music. All throughout my life, I never felt I really belonged. I don’t look like my mum. I’m a bit awkward and I was always ‘that friend’. I just did things that felt different to other people but when I started doing music… suddenly it made sense. And not only did music make me feel like I finally found myself and my place, I found me.
You can purchase Fighter and more on Bandcamp here
This article was originally published in the December 2025 Women in Jazz Media magazine
Last modified: January 27, 2026
