Teni

"Not being able to graduate on time slowed me down from my music. My parents said, ‘if you’re going to make music, you have to graduate’. I was very frustrated."

"....Uyo Meyo means, when others win and you celebrate with them, your own too will come. I was happy for my younger sister when she graduated before me, and when my turn finally came, I was happy, and that’s where that song came from."

"It was amazing. I grew up in a big family and it was fun most of the time."

"It was alright and it did form a good starting point for my musical career as people took notice of my desire to pursue music professionally."

"For You is a song I really wanted to send a message of sacrificing everything for the one you love and I am glad Davido helped do that and even more."

"“Mistakes are not fatal, and failures are only battle scars"."

"For me, it is freedom; freedom to be yourself in every area of your life. When you have that freedom, you can change the world because you are yourself. Why does another person’s opinion matter so much to your happiness and life?"

"While you’re here, it is about your own happiness. That is how I live my life, on my own terms as Teniola Apata."

"Music is a gift from God. You know what it means to create a song and when you are asleep, people are dancing to it. Some people have sex to it? You go to different parts of the world and people are singing to it word for word. You cannot tell me that is not power. It is spiritual. So, when I make music, there are different ways it comes."

"You as an artiste, should see yourself as a business. You are a walking currency which means your face, voice, silhouette, and everything about you is valuable."

"The finish line is the day I die. Of course, I want a Grammy. But even after the Grammys, I know myself. I will also want more."

"I want to be a billionaire,for real. Honestly if you love to help you have to have some kind of money,” she said, adding that when she becomes a billionaire, she would give scholarships to people because she went to school with some international students and knew that sometimes they could not pay their school fees."

"The way you have ups is the same way you have downs,It's balanced. It's life. It's what makes life sweet. You enjoy and appreciate the good times, and you also appreciate the bad times too because it ushers in the good times and it teaches you how to appreciate [them]."

"I believe education is key to fostering independence, and allowing individuals to make their own decisions and thrive without external constraints … enabling them to contribute positively to society and reach their full potential."

"People say they want your art, but they don’t want the artist to express themselves in truth."

"It’s your own world, create whatever you like. With melodies, with instruments and with words. It’s just fun."

"I would say to an artist, don’t go independent if you are not ready. You have to be ready and you have to want to work and know why you are doing it because there’ll be a lot of nights where you are just tired. You have to have a why."

"It taught me that the waiting period is just preparation for something better. When something isn;t going as you planned, just relax, maybe the universe is preparing you to see another side, maybe it wants to teach you something."

"In whatever you do, in every area of your life, you are not alone. Be free, spread your wings. Just go and set yourself free."

"There’s no pain without growth and there’s no growth without pain."

"https://www.clashmusic.com/features/afrobeats-is-freedom-to-a-new-world-teni-interviewed/"