walking upstream…
Ayra Starr
Ayra Starr writes hooks that sound like a dare. Born in Cotonou and raised in Lagos, she was discovered by Don Jazzy after posting an original song to Instagram in 2019, and Mavin Records turned her into Afropop's brashest new voice — first with the strutting, chart-topping "Bloody Samaritan," then with "Rush," a single so infectious it out-charted much of the Afrobeats old guard internationally and earned a Grammy nomination. She sings across Yoruba, French, Nigerian Pidgin, and English within the same verse, and her albums 19 & Dangerous and The Year I Turned 21 pair diaristic bravado with the kind of vocal control she once hunted for in "how to sing like Rihanna" tutorials as a teenager.
the sound in question
2022
RushAyra Starr
walk the tributaries ↓
Wande Coal2010s · Afropop / Afrobeats / R&B
Wande Coal's melodic, falsetto-laced late-2000s Mo'Hits records were part of the soundtrack of Ayra Starr's Lagos childhood, and she's said outright on Cool FM's Midday Show that she'd "always wanted to sample 'You Bad' by Wande Coal for so long" — which she finally did on "Jazzy's Song," built around its central hook.
listen: upstream & heresource: Cool FM — Ayra Starr on sampling Wande Coal's "You Bad" for "Jazzy's Song" ↗
2009
You BadWande Coal
2024
Jazzy's SongAyra Starr
listen forListen for the interpolated melody itself: "Jazzy's Song" lifts the sung hook and syncopated pocket of "You Bad" almost wholesale, then layers Ayra Starr's breathier, more clipped delivery over the same Don-Jazzy-lineage production DNA.
Rihanna2010s · Pop / R&B / Dancehall
Ayra Starr has called Rihanna her "number one inspiration" and has said she taught herself to sing partly by chasing Rihanna's phrasing on YouTube as a kid; the cool, unbothered swagger of early singles like "Bloody Samaritan" carries that same deadpan confidence rather than belted power notes.
listen: upstream & heresource: Revolt — "Ayra Starr Explains Unique Blend Of Influences She Pulls From" (Rihanna/Beyoncé quote) ↗
2007
UmbrellaRihanna
2021
Bloody SamaritanAyra Starr
listen forListen for the clipped, almost spoken-word cadence riding on top of the beat instead of chasing it — the icy control in Rihanna's verses on "Umbrella" and the flat, don't-care delivery on "Bloody Samaritan" both let attitude do the work a bigger voice usually would.
Beyoncé2000s–2010s · R&B / Pop / Hip hop
Ayra Starr names Beyoncé, alongside Rihanna, as one of the two artists she "leans into" most when describing what shapes her music, and her own Wikipedia summary credits the pair as the two figures who most shaped her style; the maximal, girl-army stomp of "Woman Commando" (with Anitta and Coco Jones) works the same female-solidarity-as-force idea Beyoncé built a career on.
listen: upstream & heresource: Revolt — "Ayra Starr Explains Unique Blend Of Influences She Pulls From" (Rihanna/Beyoncé quote) ↗
2011
Run the World (Girls)Beyoncé
2024
Woman CommandoAyra Starr
listen forListen for the unison chant hooks and marching, call-and-response group vocals — the parade-ground stomp and "my girls" backing chorus on "Woman Commando" echo the same regimented, anthemic build as "Run the World (Girls)."