Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage has opened up about her challenges before rising to fame in the music industry.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Afrobeats Intelligence podcast, Tiwa revealed that her sense of fashion received massive criticism, preventing her from performing at shows.

“I was really hurt. I would go to shows and wait backstage, and they wouldn’t call me because maybe the governor’s wife had said I couldn’t come up. Or they’d say.

"Make sure you don’t wear any of those skimpy dresses.’ I’m not making this up.”My fashion sense attracted criticism. Then, I ran back to L.A.,” Tiwa said.

The backlash, she said, forced her to relocate to United States of America, Los Angeles.

According to her, it took the intervention of her longtime manager, Bizzle, to get her back to Nigeria.

Despite her return, Tiwa said she faced rejection from all the top record labels back then.

“I’ve told the story where I went to all the labels and they all said no—Storm Records, Mo’Hits, Banky W’s EME, everyone,” she noted.

Tiwa added that Bizzle motivated, encouraged, or supported her at a crucial time.

“I remember Bizzle called me and told me that ladies were loving me, so I came back to Nigeria,” she stated.

Initially drawn to acting as her first love, Tiwa disclosed that it was a man in the music industry who caught her attention and influenced her career choice.

She shared that her crush's close association with musicians led her to abandon acting and pursue a career in music instead.

"I've always wanted to do acting. Acting was one of my first loves before music. I got into music because I had a crush on a guy, and he was always around musicians, so I said, 'yeah, forget acting and just go into music,'" Tiwa revealed.