Ayra Starr pulled up to Genius to break down her hit song “Commas.” The feel-good anthem is from her latest album, 'The Year I Turned 21,' delivers an empowering message, encouraging fans to stay true to themselves and take control of their lives. On today’s episode of Verified, the Afro-soul artist dives deep into trusting herself, taking pride in sharing her native language with the world, letting go of worries, and more!
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00:00I knew the song was going to be so great when I didn't get sick of it after three months.
00:04I get sick of my own records all the time.
00:06I'm telling you, after a month, I'm like, please, you guys.
00:09But my team is like, let's play.
00:10I'm like, listen to it in your rooms.
00:12But with Commas, we kept playing it for so long and it just got better the more you listen to it.
00:17You know, I just think that, okay, I've made something special because if I didn't
00:20get bored, me, of all people, I'm the most Gemini of all Geminis.
00:24Let me tell you something.
00:25So if I didn't get sick of it, I knew that, okay, this is going to be amazing.
00:30I remember when we started working on Commas, I was like, this song is not finished.
00:38I have so much to do.
00:39So I have 15 versions of the song, guys.
00:41Everybody was sick of me.
00:42Everybody was like, Aira, I think we're done.
00:45I'm like, no, trust me.
00:47And I kept working on the song until I had this version that even though you don't understand
00:51what I'm saying because I'm speaking Pidgin most of the time, you feel like just so good
00:55listening to Commas.
01:00I carry God so I fear nothing, steady increasing the Commas, Commas, Commas, Commas.
01:07So now, which kind of live where I never see is Pidgin English.
01:10Me saying that, what kind of live have I not seen?
01:13Like I've seen everything.
01:14You know what?
01:15I've been through a lot, but I carry God and I fear nothing.
01:19I fear no single man, no single principalities, nothing.
01:23I know when I enter a place, Arista is there.
01:25So fear me instead.
01:30Ain't no pick left for your memory, whether now winter or summer, Ajay.
01:36I always say Ajay.
01:37I use it in my music as like an exclamation, but usually it's how you say like guy, like
01:42bro.
01:42Ajay is like my guy, my bro, like Ajay.
01:46So it's also like streets like it's Pidgin.
02:00Barbados is the first place I ever went to for like an actual vacation.
02:03This is like two years after doing like music back to back and working.
02:07It was my first ever bed day trip and I went with like my favorite people in the whole
02:11world and we had the best time.
02:12I didn't grow up, you know, with a lot of stuff.
02:14So I feel guilty when I enjoy myself.
02:16So I remember just being in the pool when I was just like, wow, this moment makes everything
02:20worth it.
02:21Like all the hard work, this moment in the pool right now with a bottle of 1942 in my
02:26hands, my friends swimming and everybody listening to music.
02:29This moment right here, I'm happy.
02:30I was watching the sunset.
02:32I was like, wow, I did that.
02:33I'm in this villa in Barbados.
02:35I could see the sea.
02:36I was like, wow, this is all me.
02:47This is my favorite line in the whole song.
02:50They never know I color.
02:51They don't know I'm like smart.
02:52They don't know I'm street smart.
02:54They don't know I'm wicked because I'm pretty.
02:56Literally what I'm saying is that they underestimate me because of my face.
03:06That's just me.
03:07That's how I've always been.
03:08If something is not for me, I carry my bag and I go.
03:11I'm talking about no bad vibes.
03:13Bad energy stay far away.
03:14When you have high standards for yourself, people are going to have to like, you know,
03:18take it seriously.
03:18So when it's bad energy, I will leave.
03:21I was going to explain this line.
03:23Yes, finally.
03:24Because everybody I'm saying, what is isokuso?
03:26What is isokuso?
03:27Isokuso can mean anything, but in the direct meaning is rubbish.
03:30Rubbish talk, gossip.
03:32So when I say I'm allergic to nonsense talk, it's like, don't bring that vibe here.
03:36Like don't, that nonsense talk, whatever you're trying to project onto me, I'm allergic to
03:40it.
03:40Whatever bad vibes you have, allergic.
03:50When we made this track, Stability was popping then.
04:02Stability got a lot of backlash.
04:04I feel like at that time, people were trying to conform to like the Western standards of
04:08Afrobeats.
04:08I know what Afrobeats is.
04:10Afrobeats is very much vibes.
04:12Sometimes I have lyrics.
04:13Sometimes I just want people to have a good time and just dance.
04:16Even after all the backlash that Stability got, it was popping.
04:20It was definitely my biggest song.
04:22Mbono means hot.
04:23Like it's hot.
04:24Anytime I performed it everywhere, people would go crazy.
04:26So I was like, Stability is hot.
04:36Things happen is like, there's so many things that the world doesn't get to see.
04:39They see all these good things.
04:40They don't know the work that has had to be put into it.
04:43Drop tattoo make I live my life is like, I'm still going to do what I want.
04:47I grew up very like, do this, do that.
04:48Don't drop tattoos.
04:49So I feel like drop tattoo is kind of a symbolic way of me saying I'm going to break out of
04:53every box or every expectation that is like expected of me.
05:02Every time I sing commas and I sing that line, like dreams come true if not fight.
05:06I feel like I performed the song for like people, but every time I come to that line,
05:09it's just for me.
05:09It's just for me to remember like, wow, I'm on this stage.
05:12Dreams come true.
05:14People are not going to believe in you.
05:15People are going to like, oh, what's she doing?
05:18You have to fight.
05:19So it's like fight the fight.
05:20Keep going.
05:21Even when it gets tiring, make you not go tired.
05:24Like don't get tired.
05:35Keep going.
05:36Fire they go.
05:36Like give them back to back.
05:38Don't give them time to rest.
05:40Don't give them time to catch up.
05:41When you finally lift your head from the water, you're going to see how far you've come.
05:45Leave your worries alone.
05:46It's very easy to get insecure and be like, I don't think I'm good enough for this.
05:49I don't think I can do this.
05:50But leave all of that alone.
05:52Keep going, girl.
05:55It means everything to me to, you know, have people that don't even speak Pidgin wanting
05:59to learn what this word is.
06:01They want to use it in their daily lives.
06:03You know, I represent like a whole continent.
06:05I represent a whole genre right now.
06:08And it's crazy because I always wanted to be like a teenage African pop star.
06:12And the fact that I can do this and like influence the world in my original mother tongue, it
06:18means the most amazing thing to me.