With little over a week to go before Tinashe releases sophomore album ‘Joyride,’ the singer is reflecting on her roller-coaster journey.
It’s been far from plain sailing for the R&B star who has actively been trying to get the project off the ground for almost three years.
In a new interview with CR Fashion Book, she keeps it all sorts of real about the hurdles she encountered and even admitted to – at times – not being in the driving seat of the campaign.
She also seized the moment to clarify last year’s comments on colorism that saw many hit back at her.
Dive below for more…
Tinashe On The Underperformance Of Previous Lead Single ‘Flame’:
“I wasn’t forced (to release it), but it was one of these situations where it was like ‘Okay, I will trust you guys and this is what you believe is the best decision so I’m going to get behind it,’ because that’s more advantageous than to sabotage my own songs. And when that wasn’t necessarily successful, I realized that it was my turn to get back into the driver’s seat as far as curating every move I made from there on out.”
Excerpt On Being Aware Of The Critique She Receives:
Speaking with Kachingwe is like watching persistence and drive unfold. She’s aware of the misconceptions and scrutiny around her own image and what people think of her—that she doesn’t know who she is, that her music is unfocused, that she’s controlled by her label, and that she “isn’t a real artist,” she says.
Tinashe On Clarifying Her Remarks About Colorism In The Music Business:
“It’s not literal (the Beyonce/Rihanna comparisons) but there’s the perception that unless you’ve reached this ultimate level of success, that you aren’t successful, which is limiting and unfair because there’s a lot of black women in the R&B space that are making great music that should be equally respected and represented. Everyone is quick to call you a flop or a failure if you haven’t reached these high pinnacles of success. It comes from an idea that there isn’t space for that many women, like there’s this competitive undertone to everything. It isn’t necessarily the case at all; there’s room enough for everyone to be successful.” [Source]
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Interesting insights.
She’s clearly far more “aware” than perhaps giving credit for.
What’ll resonate more though is a slay album. So, let’s hope she delivers come April 13th when ‘Joyride’ finally arrives.
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I’m tired of her excuses and her fake fans would rather blame her label for lack of promotion than actually buy the ish she selling. She had like 20 singles for this album. Why didn’t her fans make one of those songs a hit? She does not have the it factor it takes to sell records. It’s like her team wants her to be like Rihanna and when that don’t work try to be Beyonce instead of making her stand out uniquely.
Absolutely valid points. Which driving seat was she wanting to be in when two lanes of identity were being paved. Let me guess the one with the best commercial critique.
I’ve seen her live and intimate and she is incredibly talented.
Her mix tapes are what got her noticed/signed and I liked them however like all mix tape ‘finds’ they quickly get made to lose their identity/style in favour of labels ideas of being the ‘one’. She started off perfectly with ‘2on’ and after all hands on deck it was like there were no hands on deck and a blindfold was given to the driver to hope for the best ??♂️
GREAT CRITIQUE! I COULDN’T AGREE MORE HER MIXTAPES WERE LIFE I COULDN’T STOP PLAYING THEM.
2 ON CAME OUT AND I KNEW IT WAS A HIT AND AFTER THAT HIT ITS LIKE NOTHING STUCK.
I’M STILL ROOTING FOR HER THOUGH SHES MORE IN THE LANE OF CIARA (SUPERLOVE) TO ME VERSES BEY OR RIH. SHE GIVE ME CONSISTENTLY GOOD MUSIC IT JUST DOESN’T SELL BUT THE MUSIC FOR THE MOST PART IS DECENT.
JOYRIDE BETTER HAVE AT LEAST 1 STANDOUT STRONG SINGLE THAT WE HAVEN’T HEARD.
I’M STILL A FAN TINASHE!
She needs to go by her real name, Tinashequandriantavianiqua. I feel like her being true to who she really is will help her a lot. I also think her hair is all wrong, she needs a #8 body wave with front side closure with some finger waves and possibly some glitter. Let me style you bae
Hey rihanna
I just want her to WIN!!
She said Black people don’t accept Tinashe because she’s mixed…. I didn’t like that comment either
…… Tinashe fuc you…
Chile… If it weren’t True then Whatever she said shouldn’t Invoke any types of Emotions in you..
and Yes Majority Of Black People Don’t Support Her.. She didn’t Lie One Bit..
Love this interview. These girls be 100% aware of everything around them and what people be saying. I like her honesty and what she said about there being enough space for more artist than Beyonce and rihanna.
I really wish we would quit using the word flop. Success to someone can be totally different than success to other.
And honestly if we were going by what y’all call flop Rihanna wouldn’t be rihanna today. Because y’all called her flop for years for selling < 200k albums. But we see how that turned out.
My advice to the new girls like Sza and Tinashe is just to realize the music you see fit for your following and don’t worry about sale and being mainstream. The climate has change and we will probably never see another Beyonce, Taylor, Rihanna size superstar for a while.
She has a bad habit of throwing people under the bus. I don’t doubt that her label is partially responsible, but it seems unfathomable to her that maybe, just maybe, she’s a part of the problem. It’s her label. It’s her fake fans. It’s the black community who doesn’t support her because she’s a victim of reverse colorism. ?It’s the public trying to keep her down in the name of Beyoncé and Rihanna. She is always making assumptions about why she gets the criticism she does and NONE of those assumptions ever involve her.
It sucks her label leaves her out to dry like this for interviews. It’s clear They don’t support her anymore and her deal is weak.
All her singles are hits to me and can be very successful if the label pushes them. I’ve seen NO promo besides IG.
She’s barely performed any these songs anywhere on TV, no red carpets, no dope outfits, magazine covers, more interviews nada! Sad!
RCA sucks! Can’t do anything but blame them. But I’m hoping the album is good! I guess that’s all that matters!
She’s smart and has played the game with her label for a longtime (Chris Brown added on Player, Iggy added on AHOD remix, “Flame” all together, that NFL song, etc…) Has to be tough when your label supports you but in doing so end up diluting your image. She is by no means a flop, all of her albums and mixtapes are critically acclaimed. Her music is 10x better than mainstream charting albums, hoping she stays on her grind – can’t spell talent without a T!
Aquarius was amazing, Nightride was dope, can’t wait for Joyride!
If she is popping then why aren’t her fans buying her music?
You’re Absolutely right on some things you pointed out… But I really Appreciate her Work Ethic And I See That she really cares about her Career, Hell is i was her. I would always be questionin myself as well, “How come I’m doing this, And this is not happening? And vice versa”
It’s her Career and she has to always care and wonder for her job.. and I Honestly think that The Black Comunity isn’t supporting her Craft, most of them aren’t .. so in the past months when she confronted the situation and Called them out in an interview They all the sudden started Poppin off on her, and acting like they were supporting her.. when we all know they never weren’t .. So she didn’t lie Not one bit.. She’s very Talented .. it’s the People that just doesn’t care about our Black female Artist.. but They’re the first one to get on social media and Called them FLOP smh..
She is not entitled to bkack support. She has to earn that by having a likeable it factor.
Stop trying to make “ fetch” happen…?
The girls a flop….
She’s not as aware though lol. Tinashe refuses to understand that the creative fight between her and her label is why either direction didn’t stick. She could successfully be anyone of the two artist she presented but because her and the label tried to introduce her with a disjointed mixture of edgy urban princess and the rising pop queen, the general public was confused. New flame could’ve been a hit if we believed that was her angle. You can’t drop songs like party favors one month then come with new flame the following month and think it’ll take off. She needed cohesion bruh… oddly these last songs seem to be a good jab at her being her and fusing in enough pop to position her for rise appeal.
Now she needs to just sit pretty and stay consistent.
Plz SHUT UP, Tin. Your interviews don’t help. Don’t f*** this slow rise up.