There are many ways to describe Tinashe: talented, resourceful, strong-willed, polished. But the most appropriate word for today is focused. When I meet the 25-year-old singer-songwriter, she’s in the middle of a photo shoot, outfitted in a mesh white bodysuit, twisting, tucking, and contorting to the beat of a self-curated playlist that jumps from Ty Dolla Sign to Migos to the Spice Girls. Anytime something feels off, whether it’s a slack safety pin or a backdrop she worries will clash with an outfit, she doesn’t hesitate to speak up and reroute the situation. Tinashe doesn’t have time for wasted shots. Her long-awaited second studio album, Joyride, is finally, finally arriving on April 13, and she needs the release to satisfy impatient fans — and meet her own mile-high expectations.

RUBEN CHAMORRO

Pam & Gela jacket and pants; Tommy x Gigi top; Christian Louboutin heels; BYCHARI necklace (top) and earrings; FALLON necklace (bottom); rings right hand: Saskia Diez, (middle finger); rings left hand: Odette New York (ring finger).

At this point, the album’s numerous setbacks are well-storied. The project was first announced in fall 2015. That season came and went. Then it was promised in the balmy months of both 2016 and 2017, with nothing but scattered singles to show for it. Tinashe’s team even launched (and eventually cancelled) a tour in support of an album that was perpetually "coming soon." But fourth time’s a charm, right?

"I feel even more excited and confident in the album now than I was a year ago, even if a year ago I felt like I had the completed album," Tinashe says. We're in Cosmo’s greenroom, post-shoot, with her cousin, publicist, and married managers. She's curled up on a couch, sipping a half-finished bottle of Coca-Cola, looking relaxed in a heather grey sweatsuit, a plaid flannel, and Nike Dunks.

RUBEN CHAMORRO

LEFT: & Other Stories jacket; JADE Swim dress; Mikoh bra; Only Hearts by Helena Stuart bottoms; Bagatiba earrings. RIGHT: Boohoo.com long sleeve shirt; 3.1 Phillip Lim tank and skirt; BYCHARI earrings and top necklace; FALLON necklace (middle); Saskia Diez necklace (bottom); Hanro of Switzerland bra.

From the outside, Tinashe (née Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe) seemed for years to be held captive by her label’s indecisiveness and ulterior motives. In a conversation with fans in February 2016, she blamed her album delay on the fact that RCA was "focused on Zayn," referring to label-mate Zayn Malik. "That’s the real tea," she said. She previously admitted to Spin that she personally leaked her 2016 single "Party Favors" as a way to force her label to act. "I wasn’t supposed to put it out," she said. "But I knew if I didn’t just put something out, I ran the risk of continuing to push back my singles and my whole process. I’ve got the songs, I need to put them out, I need people to hear them."

Today, she scoffs at my mention of rumored RCA beef, sounding half annoyed, half amused. "I can’t even blame the label," she says coolly. "It’s just the way life works — timing, the way I release things, the way people react to things, the way that the album trajectory goes. The way that my creative trajectory goes."



The main point of clarity she wants to offer is that Tinashe was and never has been a puppet. "People think that some of the stuff I put out was forced upon me," she says. "It wasn’t...with the exception of 'Flame,'" she concedes. (That song, released in March 2017, was a synth-heavy, eighties-inspired departure from her usual R&B dance hits.) "I cried for two days when they told me I had to put that song out as a single. Dead-ass serious. They forced that 100 percent." She ultimately considered the release a compromise. "Okay y'all, I’ll do what you want to do, but you have to work with me as well. And when that didn’t work, it was kind of like, All right, now it’s time to get with my plan."



In summer 2017, Tinashe relocated from her family’s La Cresenta home to a compact creative sanctuary in Hollywood Hills. For six months, the space served as a central hub for album collaborators like Mark Ronson, Diplo, Nic Nac, Mike WiLL Made-It, Boi-1da, and Stargate. (Kendall and Kylie Jenner would also stop by for "Taco Tuesdays.")

RUBEN CHAMORRO

MISBHV jacket and pants; Fila bra; Bagatiba earrings; Saskia Diez necklace.



The sessions birthed the bulk of Tinashe's album faves, including 2018’s first single, "No Drama," featuring Migos member Offset. The accompanying video, which has racked up over almost 16 million views on YouTube since its release, finds Tinashe, a student of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, showing off the enviable dance moves that have become part of her professional DNA.

"This particular song is relevant to how I was feeling that summer," Tinashe says. "Just wanting to come out there, do my thing, be myself, have fun, and not worry about all the people online and all the noise and the nonsense."

Joyride turned out to be a solid album peppered with mainstream pop-chart hopefuls. Brooding numbers like "He Don’t Want It" are a nod to Black Water-era Tinashe, and it isn’t far-fetched to image the title track, with its sinister, industrial-leaning production, tucked into the folds of a Rihanna album. While the LP’s top-to-bottom cohesion may be up for debate, there’s inarguably a little something in there for everyone.



And yet it's not lost on Tinashe that Joyride will may come with baggage for some listeners—par for the course when an album gets delayed so many times. "People tried to get me to change the title a lot. She wanted me to change the title," she adds, glancing at her manager. "But when someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to do it even more." So rather than abandon the name, she doubled down on it. "Even when everything looks like it’s really falling apart," she says. "I just come back so much stronger."

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