Tinashe - Aquarius (out October 7 2014)

*Tink

safari is a dumb browser trying to autocorrect my ilx posts back to chrome

How is that video yuck though?

the stripper moves are a huge turn-off personally

Really?

i'd love to know exactly why tink is so beloved of various hipster magazines - you know, the fader/fact/pitchfork etc crowd - who have rarely gone so hard to bat for any other r&b singer at her level

Tbh: same here. Her catalog is pretty weak IMO. That said, she has a following beyond that audience .... Like ppl "IRL" are attracted to her star qualities. I think she's charismatic and has the ability to be pretty major. The fact/fader crowd latching onto her does strike me as somewhat random bc mug of her material (imo fingers up and the Jeremih song excepted) is pretty insubstantial. But: I think she had lots of potential

Also, people are real into a timbo cosign, obv, and he didn't just cosign. He put all his chips on her, in a way he hasn't done in years

Bc MUCH of her material

HAS lots of potential

yeah apart from not discerning any star qualities (any more than idk nikkiya or kehlani or whomever) that's what confuses me too - i haven't thought any of her mixtapes have been statements of intent in either concept or execution. she raps and sings, is about all that makes her stand out to me? and all the boosting was happening pre-timbo!

i like "ratchet commandments" better than anything she did before and she has as much potential as anyone at that stage of their career, i just don't get the massively disproportionate boosterism from outlets who barely acknowledge most r&b singers

i think it's basically some riyl: Aaliyah bullshit, like her singing stuff was this amorphous atmospheric shit that just played well to the formal biases of fact/fader audiences. And it gained momentum bc people rightly imo see her potential

I think Tink's appeal is pretty obvious. She sings well, she raps well, she's engaging and charismatic. Even her lesser songs are really, really fun. I don't think the Aaliyah comparisons hold much weight; she carries her own sense of mischief.

"Don't Tell Nobody" was fantastic and "Ratchet Commandments" is really strong, too; I have a lot of hope that she'll continue hitting those highs.

She doesn't really sing well

"don't tell nobody" is the only song of hers that really struck me

i just can't shake the notion, at least right now, that a lot of writers really really want her to be famous without her having done much yet to get there

I think we all just want timbaland to be relevant again

I will argue that it's not just writers who like her though. She has a real world audience

Yeah, of if you ever listen to The Breakfast Club; Charlagmagne hypes her up like she's the second coming of Tupac.

Lol that's pure payola cmon

I mean I don't know that but it's def the most suspect endorsement ever

i guess i mean that writers have seemed to work really hard to place tink in the lineage of very beloved female artists without there being a ton of evidence that she's going to live up to that

and it seems suffocating to me, as someone who finds experiences her music through the press

xxp Haha, I mean, he showers her with such hyperbole that it actually kind of feels genuine to me, albeit in a blogger-y "I discovered this new artist and I want credit when she breaks" sort of way.

I think he even guested on one of her songs? Which I didn't know was something he did.

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

I like tink, where's my payola

'All Hands On Deck' - nautical themed = shipping containers? dgi

payola suggestion says more about charlemagne than tink fwiw

i guess i mean that writers have seemed to work really hard to place tink in the lineage of very beloved female artists without there being a ton of evidence that she's going to live up to that

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, April 8, 2015 8:32 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and it seems suffocating to me, as someone who finds experiences her music through the press

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, April 8, 2015 8:32 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is exactly how i feel too and i'm just confused as to WHY HER? i mean if it was just that she could sing as evan argues, it could have been any of 50 others who impressed a ton more pre-debut

I don't mean to belabor this but you could tell she had something back when I first posted "fingers up" to fader. Obv it's pretty rough around the edges--she can sound a little pitchy, dawg, and it's evident that she's a vehicle for dgainz's song. But there's something of a moral striver in her that's hard to put your finger on ... I think "fingers up" actually captures the attitude better than any of her later songs even, or it's more congruent ... I mean she's from the same chicago as gbe and them but channels all her energy into music as a formal craft of executed gestures, like she's on the school diving team and has to hit the perfect form. like its her only purpose. Its very craft-first, I think a lot of the reason I find the writing about her off putting is so much of it seems to suggest she's some singular auteur who is cultivating a fresh sound when really her whole thing is way less self conscious than that. I guarantee what timbo likes about her is more her willingness to work hard and be shaped around his songs while a bit of her unselfconscious "moral striver" vibe will reflect back on the song and magnify its power...

To get back on topic, Tinashe by contrast feels relatively blank, obv she's got some great songs and I f/w all hands on deck like everybody else but at some level it feels a little "if she didn't exist, a girl In a beanie and timberlands would have to create her"

How is that video yuck though?

the stripper moves are a huge turn-off personally

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, April 8, 2015 5:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really?

― abcfsk, Wednesday, April 8, 2015 6:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

really

tbf Charlamagne is ON one of her singles which if that's payola and not him being genuinely enthusiastic is definitely some new weird payola

i did really like that song, though, first thing of hers that really caught my ear

nvm i guess evan kinda said that

this is strange shit to be arguing

regarding who is or isn't getting attention

Yeah back to the great mixtape

Actual arguments > banal enthusiasms

This is why I pay ilx the big bucks

To get back on topic, Tinashe by contrast feels relatively blank, obv she's got some great songs and I f/w all hands on deck like everybody else but at some level it feels a little "if she didn't exist, a girl In a beanie and timberlands would have to create her"

― deej loaf (D-40), Thursday, April 9, 2015 11:36 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in my house, i have earned the term "latebloomer." when Ryan first played Aquarius for me, i was like, no. i put her in an Amerie bucket for some reason, i could just never get into Amerie. and then i heard "2 On" on the radio, and the rest was history. her voice has SO much character. And obvs, All Hands on Deck is some of the sickest shit i've ever heard.

like i literally can't stop playing it and am worried about the sanctity of my friendships as a result.

How would you describe that character though?

hmm. she can go hard, she can go soft. she has personality. she has enunciation, and timing. she can go big, she can go small. she has pain in her voice, and she knows how to party. and she also has a zen Jhene Aiko thing working in her favor. lots of things in one package. i think that's what i would say for now.

yeah, I agree with all of those. If anything she's never just one thing and that makes her difficult to pin down (and perhaps sell) I guess.

Weird thing: In DK, 2 On never made it on the big radio channel (we pretty much only have one: public service P3) but Pretend was apparantly a pretty big hit. I like Pretend more than most on this board, but it's still weird.

i don't have problems with anything on the album except How Many Times. Future is just so awful on it. And she really didn't need to mess with Janet.

but xp that is weird

I love Future on How Many Times! What puts you off?

I don't mean to belabor this but you could tell she had something back when I first posted "fingers up" to fader.

lol

tell me I'm wrong though

I love Future on How Many Times! What puts you off?

― longneck, Thursday, April 9, 2015 4:49 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dunno! i feel like he's just saying "tit" and "bitch" at the end? but maybe i'm just hearing it wrong lol...

xp like i'm saying way more than 'i have been otm in this thread' in that post

yes but

you really can't help yourself can you?