Ayra Starr: “Burna Boy is my number one collaboration choice”

Two-time Grammy nominee Ayra Starr has revealed that Afrobeats superstar Burna Boy tops her list of artists she hopes to work with in the future.

The singer, whose real name is Sarah Oyinkansola Aderibigbe, shared this during a Billboard interview with Love Island USA personality Chelley Bissainthe on Thursday, as she discussed her 2026 Grammy nominations.

“Everybody knows Burna Boy is like my number one person I want to collaborate with. I’ve collaborated with a lot of people, and I still want to collaborate with many more people,” the artist stated.

Ayra Starr’s latest Grammy nod came for Best African Music Performance, recognizing her April 2025 collaboration with Wizkid on “Gimme Dat.” The nominations, revealed in November 2025, precede the awards ceremony set for February 1, 2026.

Reflecting on her second nomination, the ‘Sabi Girl’ hitmaker described it as a confidence booster.

“I remember I was so excited. I was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. I knew it. I knew it. Every day I feel happy. I’m very grateful. Every day it’s like a new feeling — ‘Oh, I’m actually a two-time Grammy nominee,'” she explained.

She noted the difference between her first and second nominations: “The first time I got nominated, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I got nominated. This is crazy.’ But the second time felt like reassurance and just like, ‘Oh, I’m good at this. I know what I’m doing.’ Maybe I need to trust God and myself a bit more.”

Discussing “Gimme Dat,” which incorporates elements from Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige’s “911,” Ayra Starr admitted she only learned about the sample’s origins during recording.

“To be honest, I was born in 2002, so I didn’t really know exactly. I didn’t really know until I was recording the song and Don Jazzy was like, ‘Okay, this is a 911 sample.’ Then I went and did my research, and I was like, wow,” she recalled.

She also discovered an unexpected connection: the recording took place in Wyclef Jean’s own studio, though she only realized this afterward.

“The crazy thing was that the studio I was recording in was also Wyclef’s studio, and I did not know that at the time. So it felt like everything was just meant to be,” she said.

Ayra Starr candidly shared that the recording process wasn’t smooth initially.

“First of all, I sounded horrible. The engineer knew I sounded horrible. I sounded bad the first day,” she admitted, explaining that she returned the following day with renewed determination.

“My voice was still all over the place, but I was very, very determined. I wanted to sound great. I gave my all, and we thank God for technology. It came out beautiful.”

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“I recorded this song maybe six or eight months before it actually came out. This was before Wizkid even jumped on it. It was supposed to be just my single.”