Don Jazzy says he discovered Ayra Starr through an Instagram freestyle before signing her to Mavin.
He sought a Gen Z Afrobeats star and found her unique sound irresistible.
Don Jazzy has revealed that he discovered Ayra Starr through an Instagram freestyle and signed her to Mavin Records after noticing her unique sound and relevance to Gen Z audiences.
Speaking with Echo, the producer said he had been searching for a teenage Afrobeats superstar to fill a gap in the industry. He reached out to a young woman he followed online and asked her to recommend talented singers from her university circle. Among the Instagram profiles she sent him was Ayra Starr’s.
According to Don Jazzy, what convinced him was a freestyle Ayra Starr posted about drug abuse, a theme he felt captured the Gen Z experience and stood out from anything else in Afrobeats at the time.
“I reached out to one of this young Gen-z ladies that I follow on the internet… She sent some Instagram pages of some people. I said not bad, I will keep checking on them to see how they move on the social media space… in one of those videos she sent was Arya Starr freestyling,” Don Jazzy said.
He added that when he first sent a direct message to Ayra Starr, she did not reply. After seeing a post of hers with her brother, he decided to contact him instead, which ultimately led to a conversation with the young singer.
