Ayra Starr Reveals New Song Was Inspired by a Secret Relationship

On her new single, Ayra Starr asks an important question: "Where do we go from here?" Now, the Nigerian superstar sensation has shared details about what motivated the question and to whom it was directed.

In a recent interview on "Way Up With Angela Yee," the award-winning star got up close and personal by sharing details of how a secret relationship inspired her first single of 2025. According to Ayra Starr, the dynamic of the relationship was of the "sneaky link" type. She shared that although her friend advised her to call off the relationship, she refused to because she had developed feelings.

"It was inspired by a very secret relationship I had for a while, where nobody knew what was going on, and my friends were telling me to wrap it up. But I was like 'No, I love him though,'" she said on the secret relationship, which wasn't going anywhere and which eventually inspired her to make a song addressing the situation.

Ayra Starr's new song, released on February 6, 2026, is a pop song whose lyrics, delivery, and production step away from the familiar territory of Afrobeats to embrace her Western audience. The record is her first single of 2026 and one of the lead songs to her highly anticipated third album, expected to be released later in the year.

When asked about her upcoming album and whether the project will carry a number like her debut '19 and Dangerous' and 'The Year I Turn 21,' she revealed that she won't be following this trend on her third project.

"This album is not going to be anything attached to numbers, because been there, done that. I like to switch it up," she says on the project while refusing to share the title.

Expectations will be high for the album that comes two years after the release of her hugely successful sophomore LP 'The Year I Turned 21,' which has surpassed over 1.2 billion streams on Spotify and accumulated over 2 billion streams across all platforms.

Ahead of the album, she has released a handful of singles, starting with 'All My Love' in February 2025. Last year, she also released 'Gimme Dat' featuring Wizkid, which earned a nomination for Best African Music Performance at the 2026 Grammys. She followed up with the summer anthem 'Hot Body' before her latest release, 'Where Do We Go'.

In her interview with Angela Yee, Ayra Starr shared that she no longer tries to categorise her sound because she doesn't want to be boxed. This suggests that fans should expect a diversity of her genres in her upcoming third album.

You can watch Ayra Starr's full 20-minute interview "Way Up With Angela Yee" below.