Sunday with Tinie Tempah: church, flowers and Nigerian food
What’s your Sunday morning like? Depends what Saturday night looked like. After a quiet evening I’ll get an early start. If I had a crazy one, I won’t be up until 11am and might wake and bake.
An afternoon routine? My daughter has a busy schedule of playing with the dog and looking at flowers in the garden. I try to spend time with my parents and eat home-cooked Nigerian food. Now lots of friends are starting families, life is more civilised.
Sunday worship? I phase in and out, but I try to go to church. I like to be surrounded by others when I worship. Plenty of people in my life go to black churches. They’re rich with gospel and community. I prefer more traditional settings, where prayer is internal. That’s where my parents took me and I want to give the same to my child.
Have you been working during lockdown? It’s weird not knowing when I’ll gig again, but for creating music this time has been amazing. For the first time in a decade things aren’t moving at a million miles a minute. My record is still coming out, but with everything that is going on at the moment I want to entertain and engage my fans more than to sell to them.
How have you been coping? Beyond all the Covid deaths, which is obviously horrible, the world feels a little more still, a little more conscious. I’ve always used my platform to speak about things I believe in. Now we’re talking about Black Lives and it feels like real change is possible. As a black man it feels for the first time as if the world is ready to move forward.
If you could be anywhere next Sunday? On the new album I collaborated with musicians all over the world, taking inspiration from other artists and cultures. So I would quite like to be in Mexico or Colombia next weekend, hanging out with Sofia Reyes or Farina, who are on this single.
Tinie’s latest single,Whoppa,with Sofia Reyes and Farina, is out now