Tinashe Kachingwe's much-lauded 2014 album Aquarius tread carefully, boasting moody, trap-tinged tracks that pulsed with emotion, interspersed with bursts of sexually-charged and energetic ratchet anthems. It’s an album that reflects millennial relationship goals: we want things to be sentimental, touching, and challenging, and filled with passion, sensuality, and vibrancy the rest of the time. But lean too long to one side, and you could easily find yourself off-kilter. It's a precarious balancing act that the 23-year-old artist seems all too aware of. But thanks to that, her missteps have been few and far between.
The lead single from her upcoming album Joyride, “Superlove”, is a noted departure from the darker atmosphere that shrouded Aquarius. But it’s also much more positive, bouncy and tongue-in-cheek than effortlessly cool singles like “2 On” or “All Handz On Deck”. The track, produced by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, is a buoyant, up-tempo throwback that channels the crazy kind of love that consumes us when we first fall.
But the chemistry that radiates from the single didn’t beam through immediately. “I'd worked with [The-Dream and Tricky] maybe a couple years ago, but we never really created anything that was really amazing,” Tinashe says. When they revisited collaborating together for the Joyride sessions, things were clearly different – in fact, she’s excited that a few of the songs they made will land on the album. The production partners are the underrated duo behind some of pop R&B’s best moments–including Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”– meaning “Superlove” certainly has the pedigree to ascend to the top of the charts.
Some might be worried that a song like “Superlove” means that delicate balance that fans and critics gave her such acclaim for has been unsettled on Joyride. But when asked about the tone and direction of the album, Tinashe allays any fears. “There is a lot of versatility within the genre of R&B,” she says. “The album feels like it's rooted there, but there's a lot of influence from pop or hip-hop or alternative music; I think that 'Superlove' is a reflection of that.”
![While it might not plumb the murky depths that its predecessor did, Tinashe promises that the album won’t be lopsided. “There's dark and there's light. I think that's kind of what Joyride is about – it's about the highs and the lows,” she says. In fact, the album is a direct reflection of what’s happened to Tinashe since Aquarius: “[It’s] really about the adventure of life and going through a period of time where maybe you don't necessarily know where you're going to end up, but just trying to take it for what it is and live it to the fullest.”
The tracks Tinashe confirms are on Joyride certainly illustrate that, too. Album standout “Soul Glitch” is a song about someone who brings darkness out of you that you didn’t know was there, she says. Meanwhile, she points to “Fire and Flames” as one of the most emotional records on Joyride. “It's about being in a relationship with somebody who maybe you know is destructive or self-destructive and all you want to do is help them–when you know that you maybe can't–and they're a little bit out of reach,” she says. It’s subject matter that exudes maturity, and presents a depth of experience that was perhaps missing from Aquarius.
At the very least, we can be confident a lot of time has been spent cultivating the sound on Joyride. The number of pushbacks and additional sessions booked in before reaching its October release date highlight the care that’s gone into bringing fans the best version of Joyride possible. It also might explain why Tinashe says that she’s felt more pressure putting together this album than ever before: “I think there's expectation, there's people that are looking for you to fail, there's pressure from myself to continue to get better as an artist. It's a lot, but I'm excited about it.”](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hv44srAsAo4/mqdefault.jpg)
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While it might not plumb the murky depths that its predecessor did, Tinashe promises that the album won’t be lopsided. “There's dark and there's light. I think that's kind of what Joyride is about – it's about the highs and the lows,” she says. In fact, the album is a direct reflection of what’s happened to Tinashe since Aquarius: “[It’s] really about the adventure of life and going through a period of time where maybe you don't necessarily know where you're going to end up, but just trying to take it for what it is and live it to the fullest.”
The tracks Tinashe confirms are on Joyride certainly illustrate that, too. Album standout “Soul Glitch” is a song about someone who brings darkness out of you that you didn’t know was there, she says. Meanwhile, she points to “Fire and Flames” as one of the most emotional records on Joyride. “It's about being in a relationship with somebody who maybe you know is destructive or self-destructive and all you want to do is help them–when you know that you maybe can't–and they're a little bit out of reach,” she says. It’s subject matter that exudes maturity, and presents a depth of experience that was perhaps missing from Aquarius.
At the very least, we can be confident a lot of time has been spent cultivating the sound on Joyride. The number of pushbacks and additional sessions booked in before reaching its October release date highlight the care that’s gone into bringing fans the best version of Joyride possible. It also might explain why Tinashe says that she’s felt more pressure putting together this album than ever before: “I think there's expectation, there's people that are looking for you to fail, there's pressure from myself to continue to get better as an artist. It's a lot, but I'm excited about it.”
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For some artists, it's the pressure from their label that's most stifling to the creative process. There’s a lengthy list of female singers that have been pimped out by the industry for their looks, before labels slowly realise they forgot about the music that needs to go with all that thirst-trap imagery. And while Tinashe’s arresting appearance is often a talking point (she even collaborated with MAC Cosmetics this year), the artist has seemed to intentionally push back on being overly sexualised, despite how easy it could be to simply give in to that industry pressure.
For Tinashe, once again it’s about ensuring there’s symmetry in her life – this time, between her sexuality and her artistic expression. “It's always been about finding some type of healthy balance,” she says. The key to that, Tinashe adds, is embracing all the different facets of being human. “I think it's really important to have dynamics to who you are as an artist and not just become classed as being too frivolous or one-sided,” she says.
It’s managing to channel all of this into a cohesive vision that’s one of Tinashe's most impressive accomplishments. Even since her first set of home-recorded mixtapes, In Case We Die and Reverie, there’s been a dark, sensual aesthetic underpinning everything from the production, to the subject matter, visuals and choreography that surround each project. And there’s been no deviation from the game plan, even when everything else has changed.
“When you're experiencing new things, when you're in a different place mentally, when you're creating new music, there is going to be some kind of evolution,” she says. But from there, Tinashe believes it’s important to re-evaluate exactly what you set out to do, despite all the aforementioned pressure coming from record labels, fans, and the press. “It's all supporting to stay true to whatever it is that you wanted,” she says.
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Perhaps one of the most significant changes was the 2015 release of Snakehips’ “All My Friends”, a song which seemed to alter the conversation internationally for Tinashe, who featured prominently on the chorus. “It's always exciting to gain more fans and more notoriety,” she says. The song reached number three and two in Australia and New Zealand respectively, charted high in places like the UK, Ireland, and Belgium and landed on radio all over the world. But Tinashe isn’t distracted by that success – it’s all just part of navigating that evolution, and getting her vision out there. “Every step of the way is a building process,” she says.
As much as we've showered her with fan love, Tinashe's Australian devotees were no doubt disappointed by the cancelation of her world tour. At the time, she said she was as eager to get Joyride out as fans were to hear it, but there were still finishing touches to be made. Tinashe assured her followers that cancelling the tour was the last thing she’d ever want to do, and now she’s very firm on the fact that she wants to come back. “The last time that I came and toured there was really amazing,” she says. “I sold out a lot of the shows and the fans were so excited and showed so much love”. With some bigger records under her belt, and the new album on the way, Tinashe is keen to make it up to us, despite the lack of set dates: “As soon as Joyride comes out I plan to get back, absolutely 100 percent, and make up the show that I missed and play more shows,” she says.
But those fans are likely to be forgiving once they hear a final product. Her output since “Superlove” certainly gives us the impression that Tinashe is true to her word, staying the course and exploring a diverse range of sounds. The tribal drums on the recent titular single “Joyride” remind us of Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, especially with the accompaniment of Travis Scott’s auto-tuned cooing. Meanwhile, some rolling electronica mechanises itself as the backdrop behind an absurdly thick bassline and Tinashe's ever-sultry vocals on “Company”. While Tinashe was a little more cautious on her last record, it seems like this album is all about controlled recklessness. That's what a Joyride is; it’s fast and dangerous, but you're at the wheel, and it feels good. And while it’s hard steering straight at a breakneck speed, there's nothing to fear – Tinashe's in control.
