On The Rumor Rihanna Stole The Title Track for Tinashe’s “Joyride” Album For Rihanna’s “Anti” Album:
She confirms the rumour that Rihanna, or someone from her team, heard Joyride’s title track and briefly swiped it for her own album. “Yeah, that’s true,” she says with typical breeziness. “But I don’t know if it was personally Rihanna, like, ‘I’m taking that from Tinashe.’ I don’t think that’s how it worked. But it’s back now.”
Despite all these setbacks, all these things she can’t control, she’s adamant that she’s never once thought of quitting. “It’s definitely been discouraging, and I have days where I’m less confident, but at the end I know that I’m going to get to where I need to go.”
She shuffles in her seat. “There’s doubt that seeps in, there’s self-deprecation, because you look to someone to blame and you can’t blame anyone but yourself, but I’ve never, ever thought, ‘I’m going to work in a mall.’”
On Her “Joyride” Album Being Pushed Back For Zayn Malik:
In early 2016, months after Joyride’s announcement, a Twitter message, apparently from Tinashe, emerged claiming that part of the hold-up was down to her label focusing on “Zany”, AKA the newly solo Zayn Malik. “I sent that message, yeah, that RCA was focused on Zayn? They were! But I have nothing against him; more power to him.”
On Kehlani Comparisons:
“Recently, my cousin was with a friend of a friend, who was in high school, and she was like: ‘I’m a fan of Kehlani,’ but in a way that was like, ‘So I can’t be a fan of Tinashe, too.’ Then my friend posed the question, ‘Why not be a fan of both?’ It’s kind of like sport; people feel like they have to pick a side.”
Suddenly she springs forward, her default laid-back demeanour temporarily out of the window. “There are hundreds of [male] rappers that all look the same, that sound the same, but if you’re a black woman, you’re either Beyoncé or Rihanna. It’s very, very strange.”
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