In a matter of weeks, Tinashe will be reaching yet another milestone. She?ll release her highly anticipated sophomore effort, Joyride. But first, there?s an elephant in the room?or restaurant, rather, as we?ve relocated to drown our sorrows in sangria after failing Escape the Room: the fact that she has been promoting the album for about a year (and even wrapped the North American leg of the Joyride tour before canceling her European dates to put finishing touches on the record), but as of this writing her label was still hammering out the release date and could only confirm that it will come out in October.
Tinashe exclaims mid-sip when I ask if she is ever tempted to leak the tracks. ?But how is that going to help me? It?s just going to come out and then it?s gone, and then I don?t have the support. No one?s going to be booking me for TV performances, [the label is] certainly not going to help me with my next one,? she says with a chuckle, possibly trying to downplay her exasperation over the delay.She understands that too, especially since she didn?t want ?Player??her song with Brown and the first promotional single for Joyride (although it?s absent from the final tracklist)?to be available only in the version with his feature on it.
?Superlove,? the standout bop with an accompanying Baywatch-inspired music video that?s just as sunny, alludes to Uncle Luke and banana splits in its playfully naughty consideration of turning a potential lover into a baby daddy?a completely different sentiment than ?Company,? which adamantly maintains a desire for no-strings-attached relations, or the tender vulnerability of ?Stay the Night,? which puts Tinashe?s vocal range in the spotlight as she pleads for one last quiet moment before bidding goodbye.
Even with all of the relationship talk on the album, there?s an element of independence present throughout?like how ?No Contest? blames the protagonist?s unresponsiveness to a suitor on different time zones, a consequence of a jet-setting life, something Tinashe is quite familiar with.
