A year and a half ago, Tinashe was unstoppable. The R&B singer had just released her major-label debut, “Aquarius,” which gave radio stations the sultry, inescapable hit “2 On.” The album, full of futuristic, radio-ready hip-hop, was almost universally acclaimed, earning her comparisons to Aaliyah and Janet Jackson. She started popping up on singles by Nick Jonas, Ty Dolla $ign and RZA. Anticipation was building for her follow-up album, set to be released last fall. She told Spin that she envisioned walking away from the 2016 Grammys with a trophy.
Then the album, “Joyride,” was pushed back to early January … and then pushed back — again — to early February. Now, not even Tinashe knows when you’ll be able to hear it.
“I honestly have no answers,” she says of the new release date. “I’m ready to get it out. I’ve been sitting on this music for a while so I can’t wait for other people to hear it.”
She’s so ready, in fact, that she’s breaking the rules. After months of radio silence on the new album, fans were surprised to hear a trippy new single, “Party Favors,” drop on SoundCloud in September. She later confessed that she had essentially leaked the track herself without permission after her label, RCA, kept stalling. Six months and still no album later, she remains frustrated.
“I just want some new stuff to perform, and my fans deserve it too,” she says. “I think the music is pretty much created at this point, so now it’s just finishing touches and legal issues and all that good bulls—. It’s business.”
That’s why she’s so excited for her “Joyride” world tour, which stops at the Fillmore on Wednesday. In addition to tracks from “Aquarius” and some even older throwbacks, she’ll be debuting songs from the new album. “It’ll be like a listening party,” she says, with bigger production than she had last year, when she opened dates for both Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry.
Tinashe is refreshingly honest about the machinations of label life, likely because before she signed with RCA, she was doing pretty well without one. Her previous studio was her bedroom, where she recorded the four slinky, trap-influenced mixtapes she’s self-released since 2012 (and which she’s just put on Spotify).
“There’s something that’s great about having more people to work for you and to build your machine and your team,” she says, “but there’s something great about not having anyone else’s input and being able to just really truly put out whatever the f— you feel like, whatever’s inspiring to you, and not have to check in with anyone else.”
Then she quickly adds, “I’ve been really lucky to work with a lot of people, most everyone I initially had on my wish list.”
But even that can be frustrating. Chris Brown is featured on another “Joyride” single, the bubbly, sexy “Player,” but the connection was “mostly a label thing.” And despite being one of hip-hop’s favorite performers to include on tracks last year, Tinashe says she’s never gotten to collaborate with the other artists in person. Even completing her albums often came down to a game of phone tag.
“So much of it is just things being sent back and forth,” she says. “Like, I’ll work on it in my studio and then a producer will work on it in his studio. That’s how the majority of songs are created nowadays. I would enjoy the process of writing with other people. … It would just be more fun.”
Everything she’s learned about the industry has made it into the spirit of “Joyride,” which she promises is more personal than the relationship-heavy “Aquarius.”
“The theme is really just a snapshot of where I am in my life,” Tinashe says. “I’ve always felt like an underdog; I’ve always had ‘prove-myself syndrome’ of wanting to be bigger and better than people who underestimate me. I definitely feel like I have a long way to go and a lot left to do. It’s a lot of work.” And it’s going to take more than a label to slow her down.
Did you know she’s a triple threat?
Tinashe (last name Kachingwe) just turned 23, but she’s not exactly green in show business. The Kentucky native, who was raised in California, is a former model and child actor, and her most recent high-profile gig was a recurring role on “Two and a Half Men” as the girlfriend of the Half Man. As if on-set life with Charlie Sheen wasn’t enough, she was also a member of the short-lived girl group The Stunners, who opened for Justin Bieber in 2010.
Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Wed., 8 p.m., $25.
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