Tinashe: the general public rejected me as a pop artist

[Jordan Miller]

 

Tinashe says she tried creating pop music, but the general public didn't embrace it because she's black. 

"As a black woman I fought HARD AF , for years, to be considered 'pop' by my label without changing my sound because of the inevitable ceiling I felt was put on the urban and rhythmic departments.... then the pop department didn’t find my music acceptable so I molded it for them," she said.

"& in an attempt to make my sound more pop department friendly, the public rejected it, I lost my spirit/ inspiration as a creative, &had to part ways with the label entirely. Luckily I’ve thrived as an independent artist, but I know first hand how insidious & traumatizing this is."

Tinashe makes valid points. I often see black artists placed in urban and R&B categories versus pop because they're black. At the same time, it's worth pointing out that the king of pop was Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson is considered pop versus urban or R&B, but they're outliers. 

Regardless, Tinashe is right and that must be super frustrating to be put in a box due to the color of your skin. 

Thoughts, Exhale? 

 

 

Related:

 

[OnlyBeyonce]

beyoncè,whitney houston, aretha franklin, rihanna, mariah carey,  and the list can goes on,  are all black female singers and  they are so popular and talented and people love them. Don't use your skin color like an excuse to be a flop 

[Roxxy]

Rihanna is a main pop girl, what are you talking about. Some of her biggest hits are all pop songs like We Found Love, SOS, Only Girl (In The World), and S&M. 

[Haha-Hehe-Haha-Ho]

I totally support the BLM movement. That said, the reasons I don't vibe with Tinashe have 0% to do with race. The fact that she's speaking out about this from a race angle is trashy imo.  

[bitbitboi]

I feel like Tinashe is too ****** and too aggresive as a pop girl. Once I read (it was a long time ago, don't shoot the messenger! CHILL) that successful female popstars are the ones who can seduce men but look friendly to women. And Tinashe seems to be "2 on" all the time... Even Britney and Xtina in their sexiest moments threw a ballad here and there once in a while.
I also feel like Tinashe is amazing but... Is she absolutely NECESSARY? omg I can't believe I'm saying this out loud because I love her but is she missed if she's not around? What does she bring to the table that no one else does?

[SpearsSpearsBrit]

Although his music is good, it does not have the repetition factor  and his tastes are not commercial at all. She said she cried 1 week when they told her 2 On would be a single  oh come on it's her best song ever. 

[Spicechinodiva]

Maybe having a career is not in the cards for her, she might be better behind the scenes. 

 

Look at Meghan Trainor,  she also makes banks from several artists recording songs she wrote for other artists. 

[BabyBabyBay]

1 minute ago, SpearsSpearsBrit said:

Although his music is good, it does not have the repetition factor  and his tastes are not commercial at all. She said she cried 1 week when they told her 2 On would be a single  oh come on it's her best song ever. 

I thought that was when "Flame" was made a single??

[A.a.A]

20 minutes ago, OnlyBeyonce said:

beyoncè,whitney houston, aretha franklin, rihanna, mariah carey,  and the list can goes on,  are all black female singer and  they are so popular and talented and people love them. Don't use your skin color like an excuse to be a flop 

Exactly. Make good music people will come. So far I’ve heard nothing memorable from her. Pop music survives on the catchiness of it. She’s just pressed and using the race card as an excuse.

[Mxra]

This literally has nothing to do with skin colour, stop trying to use it as some kind of victim card for things that it's completely irrelevant to. 

[ExXL]

I agree she should have been bigger by now , because SHE IS TALENTED . But gurl calm down and to use the word traumatizing .... It's out of proportions people die in Yemen from malnutrition , I get her frustration it sucks that people sleep on her but calm your rich *** ....

[Midnight]

It's sad she hasn't had the career she's desired, she's really beautiful I hope things work out for her.

[ColdAsFire88]

I like Tinashe but when RCA tried to mold her into going pop... it just didn’t work and the music was lackluster. I really like Aquarius and songs 4 you, but I am not sure if race is a factor that works against her. I think she was onto something and then RCA blocked her which stalled her career and confused folks that knew her early work.  Hopefully signing with RocNation will help her get the spotlight she deserves 

[BUWYGF]

Sounds like an excuse to me but ok

[MortalMarshmallow]

Those excuses are ridiculous . However thinking about it, i find it difficult to name one Black male Music artist who is pop. They are all rap, hiphop, rnb. Right? Why is that, Black male artists are supposed to have a brand involving the gangster Mentality, i know things like cultural backgrounds and Authenticity is important but it should be possible to convey that through pop Music too 

[kaledkalil]

I don't think she's saying saying that because she's black people don't care about her music, but how the industry works making black artists be "urban" and white people "pop", which is true. The problem with her music career is that she tried shooting at all different directions, and nothing besides 2 On or Hands On Deck really caught people's attention.

I don't follow her career that closely, but I believe is a matter of bad management, with them not knowing how to sell her and try to appeal to a certain public, and bad songs (sorry about it). It's a pitty because she's talented, but at least now she has some fans out there (I guess ).

[babyimmafreak90]

This isn’t the first time she’s complained about not getting what she thinks she deserves. Stop whining and make some memorable bops. 
She’s talented for sure, but her music is just not that interesting. I only like one of her songs 

[allthat88]

All I know is "Super Love" is a great pop song and one of the best pop music videos in the past decade.  That should have gotten more attention.

 

She had a pretty good string of great singles/videos....but some people just don't connect. 

[Brat]

I don’t really understand who she thinks her audience is.  She says Britney is one of her biggest inspirations but her sound doesn’t sound inspired by her at all 

[THE_MIKY]

3 hours ago, Jordan Miller said:

 

Tinashe says she tried creating pop music, but the general public didn't embrace it because she's black. 

"As a black woman I fought HARD AF , for years, to be considered 'pop' by my label without changing my sound because of the inevitable ceiling I felt was put on the urban and rhythmic departments.... then the pop department didn’t find my music acceptable so I molded it for them," she said.

"& in an attempt to make my sound more pop department friendly, the public rejected it, I lost my spirit/ inspiration as a creative, &had to part ways with the label entirely. Luckily I’ve thrived as an independent artist, but I know first hand how insidious & traumatizing this is."

Tinashe makes valid points. I often see black artists placed in urban and R&B categories versus pop because they're black. At the same time, it's worth pointing out that the king of pop was Michael Jackson, and Janet Jackson is considered pop versus urban or R&B, but they're outliers. 

Regardless, Tinashe is right and that must be super frustrating to be put in a box due to the color of your skin. 

Thoughts, Exhale? 

 

 

Related:

 

What a clear way to play the victim, and bringing race into it. Her not success has nothing to do with her being black. And if she was the creative she claims she is, why "molding" her creations to be liked? That's where she turn wrong.