You’d be hard pushed to say that 21-year-old RnB vixen Tinashe isn’t a women of many talents. Since getting her break as a child model, the Kentucky-born, LA-based siren has held a recurring guest spot on former Charlie Sheen vehicle Two and a Half Men, provided voice talent to movies including The Polar Express, and for two years was a member of pop quintet, The Stunners.
She’s best known however, and deservedly so, for her sensuous, slinky RnB, which over the course of three mixtapes in the last two years has led to a deal with RCA, collaborations with A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q and Dev Hynes, and a hotly-anticipated debut album due for release this year.
With her Schoolboy Q-featuring single ‘2 On’ currently doing the rounds in all the right circles, we caught up with the prodigious youngster to find out about her as-of-yet untitled debut, the dream film roles that could lead her back to the acting game, and what her ideal Valentine’s Day would entail.
Prime Planet: In your short life, you’ve pursued many different creative paths. You started off modeling from a very young age before starring in Two and a Half Men and doing voicing characters in The Polar Express. Was a career in music something you’ve always wanted while you were dabbling elsewhere?
Tinashe: Absolutely. For me, I just love to entertain and to be in front of people, but music has always been my number one passion. I always knew that I wanted to be a singer, but at the time I knew that I was too young to pursue a career in music, being eight or nine years old. I still loved to perform at that age and I really had a passion for being on stage and in front of the camera. That was really how I fell in love with acting and dancing.
PP: And what sort of music were you into while you were growing up?
T: My parents played a lot of ’90s RnB and I personally listened to a lot of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Sade. Those were who was big in my household and who I listened to from a young age.
PP: Was there any particular moment of epiphany for you in which you realised music was what you really wanted to go for?
T: As long as I can remember, I’ve always had it in my mind that that was what I wanted to do, so since I was a very, very little kid. My parents never told me that I couldn’t do anything so when I told them, ‘hey, I want to be a singer,’ they were just like, ‘okay’.
PP: You released Black Water at the tail-end of last year, while you were working on your debut album at the same time. What made you want to put that out there rather than waiting for the album to be finished?
T: Well, I’d promised my fans that I was going to give them a body of work in 2013 and I’d expected for the album to be released then, but I still don’t feel like it’s 100% ready yet. I’m a perfectionist and it’s obviously a big step, being my debut album and all. I really wanted to take my time and make sure that all the elements are on point, so that was what inspired me to create another body of work that I could give out to fill the gap while I perfect my craft.
PP: It seems like there’s quite a bit of urgency on the mixtape, particularly in that sample on ‘Before the Storm’ that concludes with, “I’m not just making this stuff up. I really want people to pay attention to this.” What would you say are the core themes of Black Water?
T: First of all, the title Black Water really represents the calm before the storm, so I think that was an underlying metaphor for most of the tape. It also represents the time period of when I put it out, which was really a quiet time in the sense that it was when I was working on music, not during a promotional period. I feel it really represents where I was at the time.
PP: Moving on to the album, what can you say about it at this point in time? I’m assuming ‘2 On’ will be on there?
T: Yeah, it’ll be on there, I’m sure. I like to keep it somewhat grounded in the sound that I put out there with my mixtapes but at the same time, I really feel like this is a progression. This is going to have some unexpected elements. I want to be able to have growth as an artist and to not always do the same thing. You can expect a little bit of what I’ve done before but then some other, more energetic stuff on there too.
PP: In terms of collaborators or producers, is there anyone that you can say is definitely working on it?
T: Boi-1da will definitely be working on it again. I have some stuff from DJ Mustard, Dev Hynes and Clams Casino too, and a song with A$AP Rocky.
PP: Going back to ‘2 On’, how did the hook-up with Schoolboy Q come along?
T: Well, I thought that ‘2 On’ had a really cool west coast vibe to it and DJ Mustard is from California, so I really wanted there to be a rapper on there who was from LA and could bring that vibe to the track. Schoolboy Q is one of my very favourite rappers from there, so I always had him on a wish list of people that I wanted to get on songs. ‘2 On’ felt like the perfect opportunity to do that so my label linked it up and we went from there.
PP: Have you got any plans to work with him again or any other TDE or Black Hippy members?
T: We’ll see. I’d definitely love to work on some more stuff. I just love to be creative and work with other artists, so I’m looking forward to doing more collaborations in the future in general.
PP: Would you say you’re putting the acting side of things behind you?
T: I think so. I think it was something I took a break from for a while because I wanted to really establish myself as a musician and for people to really get to know me as a serious artist. I didn’t want them to think that I was just an actor trying to sing. When I get myself grounded in the music thing then I’ll get myself back into it as I really have a passion for that as well.
PP: Say you were on the fence about getting back into acting, what would be the dream role that could entice you to take it up again?
T: A feature film. I really want to do some more serious roles. I don’t want any silly horror movies or romantic comedies. I think that if I get back into acting, I definitely want to do something that challenges me as an actress. I would love to play a badass girl in an action movie who gets to shoot bad guys and jump over exploding buildings. I’d love to be a spy or a superhero. That would be awesome.
PP: Finally, I saw you tweeting recently about being single. With February 14th rapidly approaching, what would make a perfect Valentine’s Day for you?
T: I don’t like to do typical dates. Valentine’s Day is a time where I think you should do something above and beyond what you would normally do, like dinner and a movie or something. I’m very active so I think it would be fun to take a girl on a physical date, in the sense of rock climbing or canoeing. It’s fun to just do things that you wouldn’t normally do and I think that’s the best way to impress a girl.
– Alex Cull
‘2 On’ is available now on RCA. You can buy it here.
