Tinashe recently sat down with xoNecole and shared her opinion on the challenges in the music industry, particularly racism. She may have a warm heart when it comes to being closely connected with her family in L.A, but she also is not afraid to speak her mind on her thoughts and career.
Tinashe’s issue is that the music industry and fans across the nation are viewing female artists as if it’s black or white. The 21-year-old singer feels like people have to choose which side to be on and it shouldn’t be like that. She even brought up the whole light-skin, dark-skin stereotype, saying it’s very much “segregated” because you feel like you have to choose.She says “if a black girl is winning, light, dark, or any shade between, it should be a win for us all.”
“I think more recently, they honed in on this idea that there can only be, like, one, or two female artists,” Tinashe told xoNecole. She continued, “Which really doesn’t make sense to me because there’s a million male artists that look the same, sound the same, make the same music, and nobody cares about that. But you can’t be a fan of Tinashe and Beyoncé, you can’t be a fan of Rihanna and Tinashe, you have to pick one or the other. Like, why can’t you just be a fan of both?”
She even talked about honing her own voice in the music industry by working with a major label, then winging it on her own for some of the songs on her album “Aquarius.” She was finally glad people trusted her own opinions when it came to her music and what she wanted her hits to sound like.
“I still remember the first session was with T-Minus,” said Tinashe. It was the end of 2012. I knew I was working on it because they were putting me into the big studios and with big producers, right off the bat. That was a big shift from what I was used to, because I was creating all of my music on my own, in my room. It took me a good eight months to get comfortable with working with other creative people. Also, it took a little bit for other producers to get to know who I was and where I was coming from. They didn’t know I had a perspective—especially when you’re a new artist, and young, and they have hits, it’s like, “Why should I listen to you? I know what to do, you don’t know what to do.”
Tinashe also said: “The key for me was just to get a record label that already believed in what I was doing and respected me enough, as an artist, that they wanted to know my perspective, as opposed to telling me what to do. Record labels are definitely a huge asset, You just have to make the right decision when you do sign to that record label, not just sign with the first person who gives you a check.”
Now the “Cold Sweat” singer is gearing to release her newest album called “Joyride” that’s set to be released sometime in 2016. Are you ready for it? She’s no Beyonce, but they’re equally great!
Source:
TSR Intern: Charise W.
Instagram: @planet_reese
