Ayra Starr Explains How Moving to New York City — And Making Her Acting Debut — Inspired Her New ‘Starrgirl’ LP: ‘I Exist in Multitudes’
Categoria: Musica
The two-time Grammy nominee's new album is an audacious soundtrack for Carnival, the nightclub and beyond.
Por Billboard | 23/09/2026
Ayra Starr loves a check-in. Related Davido Opens Up About 15 Years in Music, ‘ORIADÉ’ & Taking Afrobeats Back Home | Billboard News A Star(r) Comes of Age: Ayra Starr’s ‘The Year I Turned 21’ Scoffs at the Sophomore Slump (Critic’s Take) Wizkid to Headline Detty December Fest 2026 Opening Night Since the release of her eponymous debut EP in 2021, the Grammy-nominated Nigerian Afrobeats star has used each project to survey the state of her heart and psyche at a given age. 19 & Dangerous , which arrived in summer 2021, presented an ambitious, bright-eyed starlet who simply wanted to be heard by the world, and 2024’s star-studded The Year I Turned 21 compiled the lessons, heartbreak, grief and maturation that colored the end of her adolescence and the beginning of her adulthood. Now a newly minted New Yorker, Starr, 24, is ready for her latest spill session. Starrgirl , which dropped Aug. 14 via Mavin and Republic Records, showcases Starr’s gutsy, global approach to dance music alongside some of the biggest sonic swings of her career. From a brooding Afrobeats-steeped opener (“Dangerous”) to sultry R&B collaborations with new-school stars like Leon Thomas (“Pressure”) and kwn (“Amazing”) and shimmering dance-pop anthems like “Midnight in New York” and “Where Do We Go,” Starrgirl veers between myriad genres, with Starr’s penchant for tempo and Bad Gal RiRi-reminiscent attitude tying the 16-track set together. Nonetheless, when she slows things down — like on “Misunderstood” and the ZAYN-assisted “Heaven Baby” — her husky lower register and raspy falsetto add ample emotional dimension to ballads that are far more concerned with peace than the devastation of her last album’s downtempos. And, of course, previously released fan-favorites like “Hot Body,” “Gimme Dat” (with Wizkid) and “Who’s Dat Girl” (Rema) remain as excellent as ever. “In making this album, I started to understand that I exist in multitudes, and the only way for me to show that was through an album,” she tells Billboard. “I can’t show that in just one song. Trying to limit myself to just one thing or one sound made me lash out even more, [whether] that’s cutting my hair or changing my whole aesthetic to black or just doing a sound that was different for me. This album is me allowing myself to be different forms and different things.” In both its artwork — which finds her pairing a sexy bodycon dress with a purple gele and laser beams — and title, Starrgirl hints at deeper themes of Afrofuturism, personal multiplicity and the tension between tradition and innovation. Those themes may not dominate her lyrical approach, but their presence provides a headier energy that grounds the album and elevates it a few steps above merely a consistent Afropop LP. Next month (Oct. 10), Starr will headline halftime at the upcoming London NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars, marking the latest major stage for her to continue building