Mavin Records chief, Michael Collins Ajereh, popularly known as Don Jazzy, has opened up on what influenced his decision to sign Afrobeats sensation Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, better known as Ayra Starr, to his record label.
Speaking in an interview on Echo Room, Don Jazzy recalled first coming across Ayra on Instagram, where her creativity and youthful energy stood out to him.
He explained, “I don’t know whether it’s a genius idea or not. It just felt like the industry needed it… For someone like Ayra, there is a space for a young teenage Afrobeat superstar from Nigeria that we want to ensure becomes global. So it was very intentional.”
According to him, before signing her, he had asked a Gen Z fan to recommend upcoming talents. The fan shared several Instagram profiles, one of which was Ayra’s.
He said, “She sent a couple of Instagram pages of some people, who, 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 move on in the social media space. And luckily for me, one of those days, she saw a video where I was freestyling and sent it to me.”
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Don Jazzy revealed that he initially reached out to Ayra directly, but when she did not respond, he contacted her brother instead.
“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,” he said.
Ayra Starr officially joined Mavin Records in 2020 and released her debut self-titled EP in January 2021. The project featured the hit single “Away,” which enjoyed massive success across Africa.
Since then, she has grown into one of Nigeria’s most prominent Afrobeats stars, achieving international recognition with tracks like “Rush” and earning a Grammy nomination.
