Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, born June 14, 2002, records as Ayra Starr. Born in Benin and raised between Cotonou and Lagos, she grew up making music with her older brother and earned a degree in international relations and political science before signing with Don Jazzy's Mavin Records, which reached out after she posted an original song to Instagram. Her self-titled debut EP and the album 19 & Dangerous arrived in 2021, and its single "Bloody Samaritan" became the first song by a solo female artist to top Nigeria's Top 50 chart. "Rush" broke her internationally in 2022, charting across Europe and earning a Grammy nomination for Best African Music Performance. She followed with The Year I Turned 21 in 2024 and Starr Girl in August 2026, and has become one of the most visible faces of Afrobeats' current export wave.