Nigerian music executive Don Jazzy has recalled how he discovered rising sensational singer Ayra Starr.
In an interview on Echo Room, he revealed that he stumbled upon Ayra Starr’s Instagram posts and was impressed by her creativity and potential.
He disclosed that he reached out to a young Gen Z contact, asking if they knew anyone with singing talent in their school, and the contact sent him several Instagram pages, including Ayra Starr’s page.
The founder of Mavin Records said he was drawn to Ayra’s youthful energy and the freshness she brought to Afrobeat music, and he slid into her DM. Unfortunately, she didn’t respond immediately, and he reached out to her brother.
“He said: “I don’t know whether it’s a genius idea or not. It just felt like the industry needed it, you know what I’m saying. For someone like Ayra, there is a space for a young teenage Afrobeat superstar from Nigeria that we want to ensure becomes global. So it was very intentional.
I saw her, she posted on Instagram, and I saw it. For her, actually, I reached out to one of these young Gen Z Ladies that I follow on the internet. Everybody said I like to follow people, but anyway, I reached out to one of them.
“I said, hello. I might not be able to come to like you people, schools, and things like that, to find some of the talents that people have. In your school or in your circle of friends, you don’t have somebody, people who can sing that you know. All your friends know that the person can sing, and this one, this one, this one, this one. You say that in my school, we have some people, this one, this one, this one.
She sent a couple of Instagram pages of some people, who, oh, look at them, and you say, ‘I look at them.’ I said, Okay, fine. They’re not bad; I’ll keep watching them to see how they move on in the social media space. And luckily for me, one of those days, she saw a video where I was freestyling and sent it to me.
I didn’t respond to her before I went to go and approach. Because I saw that video, I understood the context. Yeah, the context was what she was talking about in the video: why did you make me do this? Why did you make me do it? Why did you give me the drug that I took? I thought, ‘This girl looks young.’ Yeah, I was like, we don’t have any Afrobeat song that talks about this Gen Z, what do you call it, experience or whatever. So, I went to her and entered her DM. I said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Whatever.
“She didn’t answer me first. I saw her brother. I saw a post that she posted with her brother as well. I sent a message as well to her brother”.
In February, Ayra had made history in African, as she won the Best African Music Category at the 2025 MOBO Awards. She also took home the Best International Music Act award at the ceremony, beating Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, Tems, and Latto.
In her acceptance speech, an emotional Ayra noted that this was her first MOBO award, expressing her appreciation to her team and those who had supported her.
Ayra has made a mark since entering the music industry. The Mavins singer scored a major milestone in her career with a BET Award nomination, this year, for the Best New Artist award category. The ‘Commas’ singer had also gotten a past nomination from the Grammys; although she didn’t win, it remains a huge achievement.
In June, in a sit-down interview with Spotify, Ayra revealed the connecting dots in her life that led to stardom at a young age. She stated that at the age of ten, she knew she would be famous like the fictional Disney character Hannah Montana, even though she didn’t know how she would achieve that.
