Tinashe on New ‘Joyride’ Album: ‘Motherf–kers, I Can’t Be Ignored’
“I can’t be ignored,” says Tinashe in the new preview for her sophomore album Joyride, due this fall. The desert-set trailer for the record is as striking as the music itself, a collection of powerful and diverse sounds that showcase a newfound confidence from the rising R&B star whose singles from 2014’s Aquarius — “2 On” and “All Hands on Deck” — took over the clubs and the radio while even making a fan out of Kanye West.
On Joyride, Tinashe is out for blood, promising a few high-profile special guests, including a collaboration with Drake she recorded for Aquarius and debuted during her stint opening for Nicki Minaj on the Pinkprint tour. Next up, she’ll be touring with Katy Perry in South America and then heading out on her own trek across the globe in support of Joyride. Tinashe spoke with Rolling Stone about the beginning of her new era and a few of her famous supporters.
Why name the album Joyride?
I always had it in the back of my head, but it started to become more and more relevant to my current state of my career. With all this traveling I’ve done this past year and everything I’ve gone through, it just really feels like an adventure, a journey, a ride.
A lot of the focus in the album teaser is on being heard, with you saying “Motherfuckers, I can’t be ignored.” What does that mean in terms of the album?
I feel like I’ve been working really hard this year at developing a fan base, a touring base. I’m continuing to grow, but you always feel like you’re a little bit underappreciated, undervalued. Especially for me, it’s exciting to have new music and to give people a chance to rediscover me again.
It’s appropriate that with that theme, you just wrapped up a tour with Nicki Minaj, whose last album was very focused on the idea of being heard as an artist and person. What did you learn from her while on tour?
With Nicki, I can relate to her sense of wanting to get up there and have her platform and say her piece and be her own person. The biggest takeaway for me was that unwavering sense of confidence and badassness and just knowing that you’re the shit is something that I admire.
“With Nicki, the biggest takeaway for me was that unwavering sense of confidence and badassness and just knowing that you’re the shit…”
What’s changed for you in the process of making this album?
A big part of it was the focus going into it, which was that we weren’t going to make a lot of songs, and it wasn’t going to be so experimental. We definitely knew what we wanted going in, and we were a lot more efficient in achieving it. I have so much other stuff going on that we really didn’t have any other options!
I think it’s also important for me to maintain my authenticity, and I think my fans are going to hope to see that I’ve recorded some songs in my home bedroom [as had been done for Aquarius]. I made a genuine effort to record certain songs and create material in my room. It was definitely different to [juggle] a touring schedule and a creative schedule, but it’s something that I definitely had to just work through and work on and push myself to work even harder and be even more focused.