Tinashe - Joyride

Pitchfork 68

The long-delayed second album from Tinashe includes a handful of bulletproof bops but has arrived as a fragmented vision of the popstar’s many talents.

The Guardian 60

(RCA)
Tinashe’s long-gestated second album is a mixed bag, best when her coolly focused sexuality is put to the fore

There’s a lot of industry chatter about the diminishing power of the album format, as playlists on streaming services start to become what many people reach for. Expect howls of outrage from musicians who want to present a body of work, and from marketing departments and awards shows who want a neat way to package that work up. But someone who might bid a fairly muted goodbye to the album is 25-year-old pop-R&B star Tinashe, who has spent an excruciating two-and-a-half years waiting for her second one to be released.

The Guardian 60

(RCA)

The ululation that opens Joyride, the title track of R&B star Tinashe’s third album, could well be a howl of pain, and the title a sarcastic sneer. The long-awaited return of the child star turned singer (there have been mixtapes) was due in 2016, but repeated delays rapidly made it less of a joyride and more of a breakdown in bank holiday traffic. Moreover, the title track nearly made it on to Rihanna’s 2016 album, Anti, before Tinashe wrested it back.

Fortunately, Joyride doesn’t sound too much like trench warfare between star and industry; it has been substantially refreshed over the course of its gestation to include unexpected collaborations with Little Dragon, as well as bankers such as Offset on No Drama. Me So Bad feat Ty Dolla $ign and French Montana finds Tinashe demanding a better bassline, but the Caribbean inclinations here can’t help but recall a certain Barbadian megastar rather than the slightly more aerated slink’n’swing that established Tinashe’s brand back in 2014.