Tinashe - Aquarius (out October 7 2014)

No thread for her yet? Talked about a bit in the Rolling R&B threads. 3 excellent mix tapes in 2012-13. Acclaimed early-2014 single ("2 On"). Proper debut album out in October. Latest single is "Pretend," with A$AP Rocky:

https://soundcloud.com/tinashenow/tinashe-pretend-featuring-aap-rocky/

"Pretend" is just heavenly. Highest hopes for this album.

Yes, looking forward to this. Haven't checked out her tapes at all.

the last tape was pretty bad aside from "vulnerable" - which katy b later reworked into something more transcendent anyway.

this new song is awful

"now i admit that i was fucking with a kid" is a line that could've been rewritten imo

it reminds me of something specifically i can't put my finger on but more generally it's pretty superior morose rainy day r&b à la brandy's afrodisiac

The Rocky verse in particular is very De La Soul/Teenage Fanclub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOmdg3epcic

that asap rocky song is still trash but this is dope http://www.thefader.com/2014/09/15/tinashe-feels-like-vegas

"It begs for a Wiz Khalifa guest verse"

lol foh Fader writers

aw I like that A$AP track

Yeah "Pretend" is great. Weird hearing Stargate become Noah "40" Shebib on this Vegas track tho

2 On > Pretend > Heaven or Las Vegas

They're all great though.

idh why j0rdan hates "pretend", i'd've thought it was totally in his wheelhouse

*idg

it's like R&B as written by linda perry -- i'm good

Heaven or Las Vegas

interesting slip

haha i was about to say

although it's easier to imagine Jhene Aiko singing "Heaven or Las Vegas"

Uhh, that was quite intentional.

Pretend is hot garbage

Also Matthew trammel is a good writer I don't think he nec. meant the wiz thing as a compliment

yeah as a neutral statement i agree w/ him

The song definitely needs something imo... there's a lot of space there it doesn't know how to fill

xps guess that was a lil too subtle for me, Herbie Handcock

meh these non-"2 on" songs are boring, not sure she will ever get interesting ime

Are y'all about to pull a Jessie Ware/Imagine It Was Us on this woman and constantly judge every new track by how it stacks up against the one song in her discography that was actually atypical of her usual sound?

feel like jessie ware's recent output has been judged against far more than "imagine it was us"

idk, i guess i'm still checking for tinashe. i cherrypicked some of her mixtape tracks & like a few of em. just not v excited for this album yet.

Jessie ware is dope, this is trash. easy

Are y'all about to pull a Jessie Ware/Imagine It Was Us on this woman and constantly judge every new track by how it stacks up against the one song in her discography that was actually atypical of her usual sound?

― Greer

it's a slow night

i'm with j0rdan that linda perry doing r&b sounds most unwelcome, but i don't really see what "pretend" has to do with that. just sounds in the lane of all the other songs this year aiming to sound a bit like deep brandy album cuts off afrodisiac

don't think either new one is a patch on "2 on" (obv) and i hope it's not all in this vein but they're def better than anything from her mixtape days, i could see them clicking into place in album context

The more I hear from this album the less sense I have of what it's trying to be. This is track 2 from the record, and its pacing and long, wonky guitar outro spit in the face of album sequencing best practices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftB-DccfZkY

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/22001/1/stream-tinashes-debut-album-aquarius

Awesome!

Stream doesn't work, blogs keep posting it anyway.

Content above all!

it's a pretty solid album

it feels very zeitgeisty in a contained way

that's vague

it feels zeitgeisty in that it tracks along post-drake, post-aaliyah is a goddess R&B but not like fka twigs or something where it's *all* about that

insofar as it's an album with inherent commercial motivations that still manages to sound 'hip' it feels perhaps even more idiosyncratic and considered than something like twigs where the aesthetic is really the meat of the album

not that the two need to be pitted against each other or anything -- i like the twigs album a lot too

could swap jhene aiko out w/ twigs and i think the argument still holds

I am very curious to hear this. does the stream not work for anyone? soundcloud told me it was because I was in the wrong country

Everything else on her soundcloud plays for me except the album stream.

About halfway through, and am enjoying this - Aquarius seems like a really suitable title, given the full on shiny, aquatic dub sonics and subsumptive dynamics. And, ah, pan-pipes.

Yeah, those pan-pipes...

Also about halfway through, also enjoying it.

it feels zeitgeisty in that it tracks along post-drake, post-aaliyah is a goddess R&B but not like fka twigs or something where it's *all* about that

what? the strength of the twigs album is that the pre-release narrative about that aesthetic is a gigantic red herring b/c it's not that relevant to the album, which feels like it's in another lineage entirely. it's got tinges of r&b about it but certainly not the real zeitgeisty sad-drake-r&b/glacial-aaliyah-vibes sort, and it's a v minor component anyway

How Many Times is amazing.

The stream I think is UK only but it worked for me using hola.

oh thank you, I recently moved to Canada from the US and have been meaning to figure out a good vpn

Man, I love the end of Bet, with the final thick chord, and then the guitar solo playing that little riff, which then becomes the bass-riff on Cold Sweat.

Half-expect Enya-sample from Ready or Not to drop at the start of Bet.

The best parts of this record recall Aaliyah's s/t slowjams.

It's crazy long tho, reminds me of Goldenheart that way - could have been a bit more concise.

have a cynical suspicion that that only ever got greenlit cos of the running man challenge

― r|t|c, Tuesday, November 8, 2016 3:29 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

def

nobody wants to hear songs about things that did happen

yeah that post rly is premier water torture arguing

i just stared at it for a while like whuh... buh...

qualified exception for songs about things that didn't happen

but not from tinashe!!!!

you want a song about stuff that happened? maybe you should check out a little tune called "we didn't start the fire"

If you like super love you'll love tink - wet aquafina

Let me rephrase that. A huge chunk of her songs are either about trying to get off in some way, impatience at not getting there fast enough or flat out frustration when it doesn't happen. It's all there on Aquarius from the great "get ratchet, go dumb then go more dumb then / we can keep it lit, let's roll" until the album ends with an orgasmic thunderstorm. But as her career's been stalling the sense of inertia and frustration has become all the more pervasive, and on Nightride her "and I know how to get there, don't follow me" lines just sound less convincing, with no release in sight.

Thread is way underrating Nightride imo. It sounds beautiful and really opens up and reveals itself after a few listens.

The Terius "Mr. Yeah" coda tacked onto the end of "Company" is pretty unncessary

https://twitter.com/Tinashe/status/827251204681986048

fundraising for the aclu

<3

don't know if it's just finally seeing the video which really brings it to life but I had grossly underestimated how great "Company" is

I mean, it's fine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eB4EGjusrc

i think she prob needs to break up w/ her label and skip to the part where she's the next carly rae jepsen.

She tried taking Jordan's advice but did it wrong :(

This is dire

yes do not listen to this : /

seriously ?

hahahaha wow this is completely nondescript

I feel like this was originally written for Jordin Sparks or something

The secret to appropriating 80s pop is you need to sound like you enjoy 80s pop. She did not get that memo.

The video embed is dead, but I assume this revive was about Flame?

I'm just now listening to it, and I mostly agree with the lukewarm assessment, but that low end is riiiiiich.

I can't remember if I even listened to that^ but the new one is...not bad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAh7jTAkCKc

youtube telling me that "up next" is Cassie with the message "Don't Play It Safe" is pretty lol

wow i am actually wearing my tinashe shirt rn, what a serendipitous treat

this one is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS2MW3YIJew

They really need to pin down a date for an album release though. The false starts are becoming extremely tiresome.

Yeah, that's the first one I've liked in a while. If it's a hit, they'll go with it, I guess. If not, false start.

A release date. Still no tracklist but I can't imagine "Flame" actually being on this thing

The wait is over. JOYRIDE 4•13 pic.twitter.com/js2huaHp9k

— TINASHE (@Tinashe) March 16, 2018

that cover art is stunning

midnight!

i am apprehensive

it's...fine. the little dragon collaboration is nice

fine is not fine

Fine is never fine.

Wonder if anybody recognized the irony in naming an album so mechanical and pleasureless Joyride. That effortless airlessness of Aquarius is completely gone; these tracks are all so severe and unflattering. Kind of impressive that she as uncomfortable on the album's forced pop numbers as she does on the overbearing arty stuff, though.

"Salt" is the one song she truly claims as her own, but it just kind of highlights how awkward everything else is.

lol this album is 35 minutes long

almost 37!

but that includes 2:43 worth of intro and interlude filler

i don't know if i can bring myself to listen to it again

At her album release party in New York City, Tinashe performed four songs—all of which had already been released, including “2 On” and “All Hands On Deck,” another single from 2014’s Aquarius. There was little pause between songs; at the end, she said into the microphone, “My album drops at midnight, so go buy that shit.” No further commentary or deeper insight into the album’s creation, despite the fact that the first teaser for the album was released in September of 2015, and those who have stuck by her side have anxiously awaited it.

She recently promoted the album with a performance of “No Drama” on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, where she received a standing ovation. Still, first week sales projections for Joyride are hovering around 20,000 units. Unfortunately for everyone who is still rooting for Tinashe, it appears her time has passed—we can’t wait around forever.

http://www.complex.com/music/2018/04/where-did-tinashe-go-wrong

No further commentary or deeper insight into the album’s creation, despite the fact that the first teaser for the album was released in September of 2015, and those who have stuck by her side have anxiously awaited it.

i loathe sentences like this

that sentence is a mess, but I think the point that she doesn't seem especially passionate about her own album holds

I almost respect her honesty—no point pretending the album was a passion project and the record she'd always dreamed of making when it clearly wasn't—but it's like if she isn't excited about the work how is anybody else supposed to be

Her response to the piece was graceful and personable, but I think the lack of a defense of the music itself speaks volumes

I’m healthy, my bills are paid, my family is happy. Still booking shows, still making art, still minding my business, still hating Donald Trump.... I’m thriving 🙌🏽

— TINASHE (@Tinashe) April 26, 2018

Aquarius is so amazing

Some serious bullshit in this thread about what tinashe needs to be etc, scrub it

What else is good other than this? New to her music

she pretty much only has one good album, is the problem

amethyst ep

yeah it's p much Aquarius and Amethyst i think. Was Black Water good?

https://www.thefader.com/2019/02/19/tinashe-rca-label-dispute-independent

she's split from her label, hopefully this will be good for her after Joyride was such a mess for her and the label

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6nJTmr-ntY

i'd completely missed that she'd released two singles back in July intended to build up to the release of a new album titled Nashe but her label cancelled it after the singles flopped. "Like I Used To" is nice enough though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btpCevsq3Nc

damn that's good