Tems has always moved at her own pace, a trait that has frustrated fans as much as it has fascinated them. With her surprise drop, Love is a Kingdom, she retreats from the expansive, stadium-ready production of her debut album Born in the Wild into a space that feels intensely private. This seven-track EP is Tems at her most unguarded. The Rebel Gang leader has traded her armour for silk, curating a sound that is warm, minimal, and centered almost entirely around her textured, commanding voice. If her previous work was about finding freedom, this project is about what you do once you’ve found a place to rest.
The production of Love is a Kingdom is deceptively simple. It relies on warm basslines, scattered percussion, and hazy synths that create an atmosphere of intimacy. The lead track, Lagos Love, is a standout, blending the chaotic energy of her home city with the serenity of a private romance. It’s a love letter not just to a person, but to a place, capturing the specific, humid romance of a Lagos night. Her vocals here are less about power and more about nuance, she runs, dips, and weaves through the beat with a conversational ease that suggests she is singing to an audience of one.
Thematically, the EP explores the concept of love as a sanctuary. On First, she sings about the terrifying vulnerability of putting someone else before yourself, a topic she has rarely touched on with such directness. The songwriting is stripped back, moving away from the abstract poetry of her earlier hits to deliver lines that feel like confessions. She explores the spiritual dimension of connection, suggesting that true love creates a “kingdom”, a sovereign state where the noise of the outside world cannot penetrate.
Despite the softer tone, the Tems signature, that aura of royalty, remains intact. She doesn’t beg for love, she commands it. Even in her vulnerability, there is a spine of steel. The EP avoids the trap of being maudlin, instead, it feels like a meditation. It is a project for late nights and early mornings, designed for headphones rather than club speakers. It challenges the listener to lean in and pay attention to the quiet spaces between the notes.
Love is a Kingdom cements Tems’ status as a genre-bending star. While her peers are chasing the next high-BPM viral hit, she has released a project that demands patience and stillness. It is a bold counter-cultural move that only an artist of her calibre could pull off. In a noisy world, Tems has built a quiet kingdom, and with this EP, she has graciously given us the keys to enter.
