It was Favour Iyiowo’s mother who first told her she looked like Ayra Starr. She had been watching an advert the Afrobeats musician did for a hair brand when she saw someone she could’ve sworn was her daughter.
Since then, Favour’s life has changed. A tech enthusiast, she is active online, particularly on X, where she has cultivated a following. More than once, she has been dragged for being a catfish of the “Rush” singer. She says she doesn’t lean into the resemblance, but it doesn’t help either that her name on X has been “Sabi Girl” (Ayra’s Starr’s nickname) for a while.
In an interview with Zikoko, she opened up about the ups and downs of looking like one of Nigeria’s biggest stars, why she doesn’t want to be called a catfish, and how she navigates life online.
It could have been just any other regular day at my house. My mother was watching TV in the sitting room, and I was tucked away on my phone, most likely on X (formerly Twitter). Then she called me. If I’m being honest, she didn’t just call out my name — she screamed it.
She was sure of what she was about to say. She had seen me on TV. It had to be me. She was certain.
I laughed. Because even though my mother thought it was me, and even though I stood there thinking this could be me, I knew it wasn’t.
