Tems, born Temilade Openiyi, has highlighted three women who have inspired her the most in her career.

She named them in view of vocal ability, popularity, uniqueness, timelessness, resilience and business acumen.

In a recent interview on Kiss Fresh with Henrie, the Nigerian singer-songwriter and record producer first mentioned Canada's Celine Dion.

"Celine Dion is a big person for me," Tems said when she was asked about her influences. 

She recalled how, when she was young, she would replay the part of the Titanic movie which had Dion's My Heart Will Go On playing, multiple times.

Tems said she did this, "just to sing the song" with Dion. 

"And I was like crying and it was my dream to go to my school and sing like that and everybody would just be crying like: 'Wow! She can really sing!'," she fondly recollected. 

The Crazy Things hitmaker also noted "they were playing her on the radio almost every day when I was a child".

On Celine Dion's vast popularity all over the world, especially among Nigerians and Jamaicans, Tems suggested the secret of the Canadian, nicknamed The Queen of Power Ballads, was: "I think, she just taps into the soul."

Tems even quipped Celine "has some African in there somewhere".

She was informed, on the previous episode of the radio programme, sensational South African singer Tyla had recognised her as an inspiration. She acknowledged the Water hitmaker and thereafter mentioned the Black woman she, in the same vein, sees as worthy of profound praise because of their influence on her life.

"One person that's my ultimate inspiration... is Sade," Tems said.

"Sade is a huge inspiration for me as an artiste because she was doing something different in her time [compared to] everybody that was in her time, and she's on her own path, and she knew who she was and nothing else mattered.

"She could go away for 10 years, and she's still Sade. Sade is always going to be Sade, and just her essence - just who she is as a person huge inspiration," Tems gushed.

Quickly, the 2023 Grammy winner gave a shout out to Rihanna also "just because of [her] resilience. I really think it's not easy to be in the industry and build, not a name but a legacy, business, and really taking it the max. It takes a lot to do that. It's not easy."

| L-R: Rihanna, alias RiRi, and Tems at a 2021 event promoting the former's Savage X Fenty collection

Tems and Rihanna were two-fourths of the writers for RiRi's 2022 hit, Lift Me Up, a tribute song to the late movie star Chadwick Boseman. Part of the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, it was Rihanna's first since her 2016 Anti album.

Watch the video for Lift Me Up below: