Abigail Chams: Power, purpose and pop

Tanzania’s rising global star Abigail Chams continues to build momentum with a confident, dancefloor-ready sound that reflects both her growing international profile and her evolving artistic voice. With each release, Chams has expanded her reach beyond East Africa, pairing commercial appeal with a clear sense of purpose. Her latest single, ‘Your Loss’, captures that balance, blending empowerment with pop ambition.

Chams’ onstage confidence mirrors her offstage personality. “I’m bubbly, fun, and very versatile as an artist,” she says, a description that aligns with her genre-fluid approach and ease across music, dance and visual storytelling.

Global milestones and representation

Among her recent career landmarks is becoming the first East African female artist to receive a BET nomination. For Chams, the recognition reflects sustained effort rather than overnight success. “It’s just a huge testament to hard work and dedication,” she says. “To be able to have that honour just showed me that the sky is the limit and anything is possible.”

Yet she is conscious of what that visibility represents. “It’s for the next female artist that comes up to push even further,” she adds. “Every step I take is just another boundary being pushed, even for the next girl.” Female empowerment, she suggests, is not a branding exercise but a guiding principle.

Her partnership with Visa, announced earlier this year, reflects that outlook. Chams describes the collaboration as values-driven rather than transactional. “It’s a brand that’s so much more than just a payment method,” she says. “It empowers young people to chase their dreams in a safer and easier way.” For an artist who consistently advocates for youth opportunity, the alignment feels natural.

Music, movement and collaboration

Released earlier this year, ‘Your Loss’ draws on personal experience but avoids familiar tropes. While the song emerged from a breakup, Chams was clear about its direction. “I didn’t want to write a typical sad breakup song,” she explains. “I wanted it to be an anthem that a young woman, or actually anybody, can sing to step back into their power. I wanted it to inspire confidence.”

The track’s visual language plays a central role in that message. Chams co-developed the choreography with her choreographer, Feener, underscoring her hands-on approach. “We worked together to put that dance together. I’m very hands-on with everything,” she says. Her instinctive relationship with movement feeds into her wider creative process. “In my writing, in my composing, I just flow with whatever I’m feeling at the time. I believe that’s what art is.”

She takes a similar approach to collaboration. The viral success of Me Too did not come as a surprise to her team. “The second we heard it, we knew it was going to be a big song,” she recalls. The track was created with Harmonize in a session she describes as unusually fast. “It’s actually one of the quickest sessions I’ve ever had with another artist. We created it in three hours, if not less.”

For Chams, chemistry is decisive. “The energy in the room was good, and you could definitely hear that in the song,” she says, noting that this applies whether she is working with musicians, choreographers or instrumentalists.

Watching listeners reinterpret her music has been one of the most rewarding outcomes. “It was really great to witness,” she says. “Allowing other people to take an art you’ve created and giving them the freedom to recreate it in their own way is what made it go viral.”

Faith, discipline and advocacy

Navigating public life at a young age, Chams credits her faith with keeping her grounded. “It’s prayer and God. He’s really the only reason that I’m here,” she says.

Alongside music, she balances multiple roles, including mental health advocacy, entrepreneurship, leadership of the Abbey Chams School of Music, and collaboration with UNICEF. She attributes this workload to discipline learned early in life. “Honestly, it’s time, balance, scheduling and discipline,” she says.

Her musical training began in childhood. “I learned the piano when I was five, the violin at eight, the guitar and drums at nine, and the flute about a year later,” she recalls. “I had to learn how to balance everything at a young age, and that skill stayed with me.”

Mental health advocacy, in particular, is deeply personal. “I struggled a lot with anxiety,” she admits. Messages from young women online helped her recognise the scale of shared experience. “I thought, let me create a safe space where young people can actually come together and address these mental health challenges that we face.”

Looking ahead

Chams confirms that new material is on the way this year, although details remain under wraps. “I can’t really talk much about it yet, but it’s definitely coming, and definitely more singles,” she says. Her enthusiasm is evident. “I’m very, very excited.”

As her profile continues to rise, Abigail Chams occupies a space where pop ambition, cultural responsibility and personal conviction intersect. Whether through music, movement or advocacy, she appears intent on using her platform not only to succeed, but to widen the path for others to follow.