Music executive Don Jazzy has revealed how he discovered and approached his signee Ayra Starr.
In an interview, Don Jazzy said he stumbled on Ayra Starr’s Instagram posts and was impressed by her potential.
According to him, he reached out to a young Gen Z contact, asking if they knew anyone with singing talent in their school or friend circle and the contact sent him several Instagram pages, including Ayra Starr’s page.
He stated that what caught his attention was a freestyle video Ayra Starr posted where she discussed themes relevant to Gen Z experiences.
Don Jazzy said he was drawn to her youthful energy and the freshness she brought to Afrobeat music and he slid into her DM, introducing himself and expressing interest in working with her.
Although she didn’t respond immediately, he said he also reached out to her brother to facilitate communication.
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 somebody like Ayra, there was a space for a young teenage Afrobeat superstar from Nigeria that we want to make sure 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 GenZ Ladies that I follow on the internet that 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 that 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, in my school we have some people, this one, this one, this one.
“She sent a couple of Instagram pages of some people That 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 will move on the social media space And luckily for me, one of those days She now 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, the context Yeah, the context, what she was talking about in the video was why did you make me to do this? Why did you make me to, why did you give me the drug that I took? I was like, this girl looks young Yeah, I was like we don’t have any Afrobeat song That talks, that talks about this Gen Z What do you call it, experience or whatever. So I went to her and I 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”.
