Tems Keeps Things Tender on First ‘Born in the Wild’ Single ‘Love Me Jeje’

Tems is officially back with a new song, “Love Me Jeje,” which marks the first single from her eagerly-anticipated debut album, Born in the Wild, out next month.

“Jeje” means “softly” or “gentle” in Nigerian, and Tems leans into that feeling with tender lyrics and a guitar-flecked groove: “If not you, then I don’t wanna know, I don’t want no story/Day and night, it’s unconditional, got mе living softly/Love me JeJe, love me tender,” Tems sings.

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Tems wrote “Love Me Jeje,” which features an interpolation of Seyi Sodimu’s 1997 hit of the same name. The track was produced by Spax and Guiltybeatz.

While “Love Me Jeje” is the first official offering from Born in the Wild, the album still doesn’t have a release date or tracklist. Tems announced the record earlier this month with a short trailer, which appeared to feature a snippet of the album’s title track.

Born in the Wild arrives six years after Tems dropped her debut single, 2018’s “Mr. Rebel.” She’s since enjoyed several hits of her own, like 2020’s “Damages” and 2022’s “Free Mind,” and made memorable features on Wizkid’s 2021 smash “Essence” and 2022’s “Wait for U,” with Future and Drake.

Tems released her first EP, For Broken Ears, in 2020, then followed it up in 2021 with If Orange Was a Place. Last year, she shared a pair of new tracks, “Me & U” and “Not an Angel.”

Tems just wrapped two weekends at Coachella, her first time performing at the festival. During weekend one, she notably brought out Wizkid and Justin Bieber for a special performance of “Essence.” As it stands, she has a few more concerts scheduled for this summer, including a festival gig in the Netherlands and an appearance at the famed Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in July.

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