What You Need Lyrics – Tems | from “Love Is A Kingdom”

Tems has this gift for making vulnerability sound like quiet power, and this track is her at her most direct. She wrote and produced most of the EP herself, pulling from those late sessions where she unpacked the push-pull of relationships that feel like endless seas but lead nowhere. What You Need captures that exhaustion perfectly: the confusion of someone clinging through the pain, the relief in saying you’re better alone. It’s got her signature alté soul, with a light R&B groove that echoes old-school vibes like Timbaland’s rhythmic touch, but stripped bare to let her vocals carry the weight.

No big features here, just her layering those haunting runs in the chorus, turning “I’m not what you need” into a mantra that’s equal parts mercy and self-preservation. She shared a quick voice note snippet on her stories last week, and it already had folks nodding along to the rawness.

Love Is A Kingdom isn’t a full album dive—it’s a tight seven-song breath, clocking in at just 19 minutes of soulful introspection that builds from doubt on tracks like I’m Not Sure to the epiphany of Big Daddy midway. The whole thing orbits self-worth and healing, blending her Nigerian roots with dazzling devotionals like Lagos Love and the prayer-like Is There A Reason. What You Need seals it as the finale, shifting the EP’s tension into calm release, like she’s reminding us love’s a kingdom but you don’t have to rule it with someone who dims you. Stream the full thing on Spotify now if you haven’t—it’s the kind of drop that rewards a quiet listen.

Tems is in this incredible flow right now, fresh off her Born in the Wild tour wrapping with sold-out shows across Europe and those Grammy nods still echoing from last year. At 30, she’s owning her voice more than ever, turning global collabs with Drake and Beyoncé into fuel for projects this personal. Love Is A Kingdom feels like her way of hitting pause on the spotlight to just heal and create, proving she’s not just a feature queen—she’s building her own throne.