GAYLETTER

I fell for Tinashe when I saw the Boss music video. I mean, this girl was eighteen, wrote a vicious song, taught herself to produce her own music, then self-directed its video. The vision and its execution left an impression. In one red-light setting, with a bright curly lion’s mane of hair, she sidles against an oversized county fair teddy bear, croons up over its head, then playfully decapitates it. And rips out its stuffing. It’s wild. Since then, she’s stayed focused, continually maturing her style.

Tinashe is twenty-three now and no longer needs the heels or hair or glam to prove that she’s grown. Nightride, released last Friday at midnight, is not child’s play. She came for every wig on this bi-coastal mess we call America. Released with a music video statement of purpose, Nightride is the accompaniment and precursor to Joyride, her upcoming sophomore album.

Her position relative to popular music in late 2016 is somewhere between Frank Ocean and Ariana Grande. Like Frank, Tinashe’s been roiling in music industry purgatory, her sophomore album suffering massive delays, her label increasingly hapless at managing her career. Both Nightride and Blonde are dark and pained, isolated (Nightride has zero features), but animated by the singer’s devotional faith in love and self-ownership. Both albums suit these suddenly darker days especially well. Like Ariana’s interstellar pop, Tinashe’s vocals pair dense production with an agile and winking sensibility. But Tinashe’s a more genuinely dangerous woman who belts out a bit more sparingly. No shade, I love both. She’s got Mariah’s airy melisma and lyrical fluidity. Her melodies move with Janet’s bodied rhythm through cathedral-heavy backbeats. I’m here for it. Obviously.

RCA seems to be recognizing the force it’s got, because they’re putting out this staggered sort-of double album. Maybe the Endless/Blonde moment is having its reverberations here. In addition to this release and Joyride, Tinashe is also featured on her label-mate Britney Spears’ upcoming single “Slumber Party.” Which is appropriate because she is so slept on. Get to know her! It’s worth it.

Standouts: “Sunburn,” “Sacrifices,” “Touch Pass,” “Ghetto Boy”.

Watch the Nightride music video:

Listen here.