Well-known Afrobeats artist Ayra Starr has revealed why she was accepted to the university at the age of 14.
The singer claimed that she had to expedite her studies due to her mother’s insistence that she not pursue a career in music until she had completed her postsecondary education.
In a recent interview, she revealed this to American media behemoth Billboard News.
The singer stated that she had to quickly take the JAMB and fulfill her mother’s requirement of graduating before entering the music industry because she wanted to be a teenage pop sensation.
Ayra Starr claims, “I entered the university at the age of 14.” I feel like ever since I was a kid, my mother has been blackmailing me with music. “You have to do this if you want to do music,” she said. I didn’t want to move from the Benin Republic to Lagos at first, but she persuaded me that it’s the city of music.
She stressed that I must complete my education before I may pursue a career in music. Many Nigerians typically complete their secondary education at the age of fifteen or sixteen.
I realized that I would never be able to pursue a career as a teenage pop star if I waited until I was 15 [before finishing my secondary school]. I also aspired to be a teenage pop sensation. So, I wrote JAMB, or what you guys called SAT here, and I joined my older brother.
Although it wasn’t impressive enough to get me into all these Ivy League colleges, the result was still sufficient to pass. It satisfied my mother’s needs.
I was accepted to a reputable university. I took the course for three years. International Relations was the subject. I also began performing music covers online the year after I graduated, and I was signed to the Mavin Records label in the same year.