Tinashe tells Apple Music on how she decided on the sound of her album.
Zane Lowe: Wonderful strings, just heavy, beautiful, immersive stuff. So I’m really into that and it’s not lost on me that artists like yourself, the courageous, innovative, the artists who are really, truly following their own vision are finding a way to incorporate that into their music more and more right now.
Tinashe: Absolutely.
Zane Lowe: Because I think subconsciously, don’t you think we’re searching for space?
Tinashe: Absolutely. I feel like I was listening to a lot of that when I was creating this project too, because we are in a world where we’re inundated with so much noise, so much conversation, so much just stimulation at all times, and it’s so important sometimes to just quiet down, slow down, and still find your voice in that. I think that there’s just a really cool balance between ambient… And also one of the people that I’ve been working with really heavily on this whole rollout, Machinedrum, he put out an ambient album, and I think so did No Such Thing. A lot of my favorite collaborators have been leaning into that space as well, and I think it’s just so interesting to play with.
Zane Lowe: It’s so nice.
Tinashe: Yeah. And the juxtapositions between ambient records and then records that also have all the drums in it.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on why she feels albums still matter
Tinashe: I felt like, again, it was like that preparation meeting the opportunity of having laid the groundwork of creating a project and also focusing on the importance of a rollout of a project, of being able to give people the opportunity to see it, discover it, really sink their teeth into it, feel an era, feel like they got a well-rounded, something that just doesn’t feel so fleeting like so many things in our universe. And I feel like being an artist who has been in the industry since before streaming was what it is now, and to now, you have to adapt. You absolutely have to. You have to learn how you’re going to navigate that space and how you’re going to be a part of pushing it forward and still also keeping the elements that feel really important. I feel like bodies of work are still so important.
Zane Lowe: So important.
Tinashe: So it’s not striking those.
Zane Lowe: No. Everyone’s like, do albums matter? And I’m like, you’re asking the wrong person.
Tinashe: Yeah.
Zane Lowe: Ask Tinashe. Ask the artists that are making them whether they matter.
Tinashe: They absolutely matter.
Zane Lowe: They matter. Why? Because you get to say something.
Tinashe: Yes, and with one song you don’t get the same… You just don’t get same experience of being able to tell your story and being able to really make a mark and make a universe and make a world that people can dive into. I think that’s so important. It’s so much more visceral than just hearing a song on a playlist, which is cool too.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on albums she considers her safe space
Zane Lowe: Right. So let’s talk about your safe space, the place you like to go to. What do you listen to? What are those albums that don’t even have to be the ones now because I go blank when people ask me that question, but historically you’ve gone to that allow you to feel something on purpose?
Tinashe: Yeah. Well, I mean, my number one reference is always Velvet Rope because I feel like that album encompasses so much of what I try to embody, which is having the genre range. It doesn’t ever feel like it fits in one box. It’s constantly evolving. I think it’s so ahead of its time. There’s so many elements that feel one song, the next song, they feel totally different, but they all make sense of this in world.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on how she has the strength to express vulnerability
Zane Lowe: A lot of people, I think, struggle with the execution because they take everything to the point of release, and then they’re just worried about the perception, that terrible thing about how will I be perceived? How will I be taken? How will it happen? And I think there’s ways through that. You’ve obviously found you ways through that. Were there times before this where it was harder for you to let some of those more personal songs go, and how did you figure it out?
Tinashe: Well, I think there’s also something to be said for you always want to put on a persona of confidence, and badassness and you never want to have too vulnerable of a sideshow because obviously vulnerability and weakness are something that there’s a lot of trepidation surrounding-
Zane Lowe: Well, it reflects on our own feelings that way, and so what we do is we often reject other people’s vulnerability because we don’t want to go there ourselves.
Tinashe: But it’s so amazing when we hear it coming from someone else, like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve experienced that too. That’s so great.” You’re never judging someone else when they’re vulnerable. But for some reason we judge ourselves so much. So I think, yeah, it’s taken a process over the years, but I think I’ve really found so much strength and so much value in expressing myself through the art and also just release and just so much, yeah, catharsis. That’s really exciting for me to be able to go through something and be like, “I’m going to write a song.” It makes the magic happen.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on if she ever takes a break from creating new music
Zane Lowe: Do you need a break from creating? Do you need moments where you need to refill and find something new?
Tinashe: Yeah, I think so. But I don’t feel like I ever have to take huge breaks. I just kind of have to focus on other things, whether it be the creation of my stage show or touring. That obviously takes a lot of energy and a lot of focus. So a lot of times that refills me in terms of wanting to go back into the studio, wanting to make more things. But I think it’s a day-to-day process when it comes to being creative, if you’re feeling inspired or if you’re not. I don’t judge myself if I’m not coming up with a good idea on any given day, which I also think is a skill that you learn after being in the game a while, is trying not to force yourself to make art because you’re just going to waste everyone’s time.
Tinashe tells Apple Music why the album is called Quantum Baby
I think I wanted to get down to a core level of who I am, and I find that there’s a lot of paradoxes there. And so I was kind of inspired by the quantum paradox and the fact that once you look at everything at the closest level that we possibly can, there’s so many things that don’t make sense or things that contradict themselves, and I feel like that’s… I don’t know, I just kind of relate to that concept as a human being. There’s so many ways that, even with this project, there’s a lot of songs that feel kind of strong and they feel in your face and they feel confident. But then there’s also, on the flip side, those songs that feel so vulnerable and having that juxtaposition between those two things that make me human. I think that’s just a really interesting place to focus on.
Tinashe tells Apple Music about the importance of her bond with her family
Zane Lowe: So what’s been the most important elements that you think makes your family so strong? What are the things that you and your mom and your dad and your family really ultimately… what are the polls? What are temples you revolve around?
Tinashe: I think it’s that safe space where, no matter what, you don’t ever have to mould yourself or change yourself. And there’s not many relationships that you can be so raw and so real with. Even when it comes to dating and romance, I feel like a lot of times, especially in the early stages, there’s so much trepidation to get to that point. And new friendships, new relationships, business relationships. You’re always keeping your distance a little bit from who you really are at a core level, or you’re always micromanaging yourself in front of other people, just maybe even subconsciously. And I think you never have to do that with my family. I just feel so much myself.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on her perception about achieving success on the charts and her impact on music
Zane Lowe: I love to see it. To me it’s kind of common, and it’s working. You just got to number one on US Rhythmic Radio, so congratulations for that.
Tinashe: That’s so exciting. Thank you.
Zane Lowe: And the charts matter. They do, because it’s a window into what’s moving the needle and how people feel about the music. The trends will come and go but the charts are like, “No, no, no. This has broken through.”
Tinashe: It’s exciting.
Zane Lowe: What does it mean to you, though, when you get a result like that now?
Tinashe: It’s very affirming for me just because obviously I’ve been on this journey for like 10 years, and achieving those accolades isn’t something that I’ve put the pressure on myself to achieve. That hasn’t been a focus of mine, so it feels just kind of like a bonus, like a win. Something genuinely that I don’t need but now that I’ve achieved it, this is amazing. I think it feels like I’m in the right place at the right time, that I’m doing the right things, that I’m where I’m meant to be. That all the decisions I’ve made have led me up to this point.
Zane Lowe: Do you appreciate the impact that you’re having on the arts? And can you recognize it, to some degree?
Tinashe: I think I just really enjoy being a part of the conversation. I think that that’s what all artists should aspire to do. I think it’s our responsibility, is to add our input and to also receive input from those around us and just be part of that banter and part of that creative conversation. I definitely think that I have an impact on the conversation of what music is and where it’s going.
Zane Lowe: Without question.
Tinashe: And I also love, like I said, just receiving it also from my peers and everyone around me.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on what she watches
Tinashe: Oh my gosh. You know what? I watch a lot of YouTube.
Zane Lowe: Like what?
Tinashe: Honestly, like podcasts about quantum physics, nerdy things.
Zane Lowe: Holy shit. Relax. Okay. Can you relax?
Tinashe: I like learning.
Zane Lowe: Yeah. Cool. We get it. You’re smart. Okay. We understand it. All right. You’re that kid in school, yeah.
Tinashe: I’m dead. I’m serious, though.
Zane Lowe: Seriously. You’re dead, I’m cooked. I just told you I Anchorman you’re like, “I watch YouTube about quantum physics.” So where are we headed in quantum physics? Where are we going?
Tinashe: Gosh, there’s just so many… Nobody knows. That’s the thing. They haven’t solved the riddle yet.
Tinashe tells Apple Music on how she is preparing to tour
Zane Lowe: What’s cool about this album is I can imagine it’s conjuring up a different inspiration for you in terms of movement. Because you have a lot of songs that require a lot of movement, and you always step up and give those songs what they ask for. But this one is an ethereal nature to this.
Tinashe: Well, I think I’ve also been working with… For example, I’ve been working a lot with this choreographer out of Amsterdam. His name is Shay, and he’s really amazing, and his stuff is very storytelling driven, very narrative based, almost theatrical, and I think that I’ve been looking for those theatrical elements to pair with the way that the music is evolving, because I think it’s helping to build, again, build this universe outside of just it feeling like steps. But also, what’s the story we’re telling? What’s the narrative? Building pictures-
Zane Lowe: In between the steps.
Tinashe: … with bodies. In between the steps, the transitions, how these all tie in together, the feeling of it, literal shape of the movement. I think that that’s something that’s so important to how I experience music. So why not put that same effort into how someone else is going to visually experience the music, you know what I mean?
