Ayra Starr on being unapologetically confident, having creative freedom, and her rise to global Gen Z music fame

How has your experience in the music industry been for you so far?

I usually don’t allow people’s opinions or the music industry’s opinions to be the reason I’m making any type of music. My label gives me creative freedom. I try to give myself creative freedom too, because it’s very easy for me to want to conform to what is selling and what is. But I try to make music that I love. When I released my latest single, Sability, there was so much, “Oh, what type of music is this? This is not what you should be doing.” I’m like, “You don’t know what I should be doing. I have range. I can make any type of music I want to make.” So they don’t count. Nobody accounts for me.

You’ve also seen a lot of viral social media fame, which is the non-traditional way of being recognised in the music industry. How has that aspect been for you?

It’s amazing because I’m a social media baby. I grew up on social media. It was a thing. At ten, it was like, “Oh, I have a Facebook account now.” So now it’s like, I have fan pages on Facebook and stuff. So I feel like social media has played a big role in my success, so I’m grateful for that.

Have you dealt with any negative aspects of social media?

The type of person I am, I don’t see hate. I tell people, “I genuinely do not…” Even though I see it, I’m like, “I didn’t see that.” I only focus on positivity. Everybody else is going to be fine. Anyways, we can coexist because if you want to hate, do you, darling! We can coexist. Whatever makes you happy.

Meanwhile, you obviously look amazing as well! Is fashion a way you express yourself as well, or do you just leave that to music?

Definitely! I always say if I wasn’t going to make music, I was going to be in fashion. I was modelling before I was making music. So I modelled for two years before music, and I like to show my personality through my outfits and everything. Fashion is definitely a way of showing myself.

What does your family make of all of this international success?

They’re tired of me! When I was younger, and I was always singing, they were like, “Keep quiet.” It’s still the same thing, too, now. Trust me! Now that they’re playing my music, they love it. My mum loves it. My younger sister loves it. On my younger sister’s Instagram page, she’s like, “Ayra Starr’s younger sister.” So they’re so proud. They love it. My brother is a big part of my journey, too, because he’s a songwriter, so he wrote half of my album with me.