Source: Gabe Ginsberg / Getty
Tinashe believes that her career isn’t as successful as she would like it—apparently part of the blame is because of Black folks.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, she stated that she believes that Black women fans feel forced to like only one Black female artist at a time.
“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.”
She added: “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.”
(Uh…there’s also Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Solange, SZA and countless others. We’re fully capable of multitasking our fanhood.)
Later on, she discussed feeling disconnected from other African-Americans when she was child and even now because she is half Zimbabwean and Danish.
“There’s colorism involved in the Black community, which is very apparent. It’s about trying to find a balance where I’m a mixed woman, and sometimes I feel like I don’t fully fit into the Black community; they don’t fully accept me, even though I see myself as a Black woman. That disconnect is confusing sometimes.”
She shrugged. “I am what I am.”
(Does someone want to explain to her that what she has described isn’t really colorism?)
Now, granted she didn’t say per se that her albums weren’t selling because of her lighter skin, but Black Twitter connected their own dots and they weren’t having any of it:
https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/874621624158441472
https://twitter.com/kelleent/status/874696840981172224
https://twitter.com/SzaKyd/status/874606299979403264
https://twitter.com/AsiaChloeBrown/status/874575088703721472
https://twitter.com/ShaniceBrim/status/874675140654751744
On Tuesday, Tinashe defended herself on Twitter: “I was not talking about colorism in the industry,” she wrote. This is taken out of context.”
BEAUTIES: Did Twitter get it wrong or is Tinashe making excuses?
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