Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe (born 14 June 2002), known professionally as Ayra Starr, is a Beninese-born Nigerian singer. She began a fashion career at the age of 16 with Quove Model Management before deciding to pursue a career in music. After covering several songs by popular artists on Instagram, she posted her first original song on her page in December 2019. This brought her to the attention of record executive Don Jazzy, who signed her to his record label Mavin Records.

In early 2021, Starr achieved mainstream recognition with her eponymous debut extended play and its hit track “Away”, which spent two consecutive weeks at number four on Nigeria’s TurnTable Top 50 chart; the song also peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Top Triller Global chart, paving the way for the release of her first full-length mixtape, 19 & Dangerous (2021). Categorized mainly as Afropop and R&B, the mixtape received favorable critical reception and spawned two top forty hits in Nigeria. The lead single “Bloody Samaritan” peaked atop the Top 50 chart, becoming the first solo song by a female artist to reach the number-one position. Starr debuted on Pandora Predictions chart, and on 28 August 2021, was ranked number three on Billboard’s Next Big Sound.

Starr would later achieve mainstream international recognition in 2022, with the release of her song “Rush”. The song charted in several territories, including Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom, where it peaked at Number 24. With the song, Starr became the Youngest African Female Artist to surpass 100 Million views on a single video on YouTube, and also the first to do so within 5 months.[citation needed] She also set a new record by becoming the only Nigerian Female Artist to have charted a solo song on UK official Singles Chart.

Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe was born on 14 June 2002 in Cotonou, Benin, and grew up there and in Lagos, Nigeria. She was born to Nigerian parents from Kwara State and Delta State has four siblings. Her family moved frequently during her high school years because of her father’s business, and as a result she had a hard time forming close friends.

Having been raised in a music-loving family, her interest in singing comes mostly from her family. At the age of 10, she sang in a high school choir and began writing songs with her brother. She attended Les Cours Sonou University and received a BA degree in international relations and political science. During her college years, she was often bullied by her classmates because of her age and appearance. To counter the feelings, she experienced from being taunted, Starr turned to music. “I would listen to Nicki Minaj on my way to school, and I’d feel like the second Nicki Minaj.” Starr’s mother was very supportive of her musical ambitions, and always encouraged her to pursue a singing career.

In August 2018, Starr was signed with Quove Models, a modelling agency based in Lagos. From there, she modelled for companies such as Mazelle Studio, Complete Fashion Magazine and Esperanza Woman. In 2019, she began posting covers of songs by artists like Andra Day and 2Face Idibia online. She chose her stage name because, in her words, “it means woke and eye-opening and that’s what I stand for.” She appeared in the music video for Eri Ife’s song “Dear Future Wife.” In December 2019, she uploaded an original song called “Damage” on her Instagram page. This was heard by thousands of people including label executive Don Jazzy and led to her first recording contract with Mavin Records.

In 2020, she started recording at Mavin Studios in Lagos with producers Louddaaa and Don Jazzy. Her self-titled debut extended play was released on 22 January 2021 through Mavin Records. The album has been described as “a topsy-turvy chronicle of love or love-themed situations” and “merges elements of R&B/neo-soul with Afropop percussion.” Starr said her intention with the record was to make music that would resonate with both young and old listeners. The mixing and mastering of the EP was by Ikon, Louddaaa and Johnny Drille. Starr wrote one of the songs on the EP alone, and co-wrote the remaining four with her brother Dami. Shortly after its release, the EP became the number-one album on Nigeria iTunes and Apple Music. As of March 2021, it has reached the same position on Apple Music in 4 other countries, racking up over 15 million streams across Spotify, YouTube and Audio Mack. The project spawned the hit track “Away” which peaked at number four on Nigeria’s TurnTable Top 50 and number 17 on US Billboard Top Triller Global. Its accompanying music video also debuted on MTV Base’s Official Naija Top 10. OkayAfrica included the song in their list of The 9 Best Nigerian Songs of January 2021. Starr released remix versions of “Ija” and “Away” featuring Tokimonsta and Lilo respectively between March and April. Around the same time, Crayon’s EP Twelve A.M was released with her vocals on the track “In Sync.” She performed at the UC Berkeley Nigerian Students Association virtual culture show titled The Olori Awards. On 28 April 2021, the official music video for her song “DITR” was released on YouTube via Mavin. In June 2021, the music video for another song titled “Sare”, was released. Both music videos were directed by Afolabi Olalekan.

On 11 July 2021, Starr performed for the season finale of Nigerian Idol. On 6 August 2021, her debut studio album, titled 19 & Dangerous was released. For the album, she worked with her previous collaborators Louddaaa and Don Jazzy, both of whom contributed production on her EP Ayra Starr, and new collaborators, London and Andre Vibez. The album marked her first time recording alongside guest artists such as Fousheé and CKay.