Music: Ordinary People by Tems

Tems first heard about Juneteenth. “I'm sure it has always been a huge moment, but living in Nigeria, I felt like there was an added awareness last year with all the things that went on in the world,” she says. “Freedom is important both as individuals and also as a people; learning there was a day that marked the freedom of Black people in the US shows how far we've come and also points to the work still to be done.” For Apple Music’s Juneteenth-inspired Freedom Songs, a collection of covers and originals, Tems covered John Legend’s “Ordinary People,” a song that she says “speaks to me through its simplicity yet also its potency. The message cuts really clear because of it.”

Take a listen below.