Also like Queen Bey, perhaps, Tinashe is nostalgic for a time when performers could dance as well as they could sing. “Growing up, that performance element was half the reason I loved music!” she exclaims. “Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Britney... I loved watching videos and learning the choreography. I want little girls to see my video and say, ‘Oh my God, I wanna learn those steps!’ All their friends would have a sleepover and try to figure out the routine, like I used to!”
ask her about the symbolism of joining forces with Dr Luke and Max Martin, who between them launched the careers of Katy Perry and Britney Spears. Was she starstruck? “In a way, yeah, because you know they’ve done so many amazing things,” she tells me. “But I’m not easily intimidated. I’m never satisfied, even though I’m super-happy with the success I’ve had. I’m always thinking, ‘How can I take this to the next level? How can I step this up?’ With them, it was the opportunity to be like, ‘This is when I make my number one.’”
In four years, Tinashe has released a steady flow of top-notch material between her official releases, a quickfire CV that includes mixtapes, one-offs, soundtrack spots and guest appearances with artists like Calvin Harris, Drake and Nick Jonas. But her desire to make **** happen runs deeper than creating a content trail. Tinashe – born Tinashe Jorgenson Kachingwe – was always precocious and prolific, the type of child who was curious to try everything. And she excelled at almost all of it. In her LA youth, she sang, acted, played instruments, enrolled in every type of dance, and even earned a black belt in taekwondo. “I was a straight-A student,” she says, but Tinashe wasn’t just another overachiever trying to impress college committees. In fact, she was restless and saw little point in finishing a formal education at all, quitting at 15 to pursue her pop ambitions full-time, with a handful of acting credits already to her name (she appeared aged nine in The Polar Express alongside Tom Hanks). Fame had suddenly beckoned, and in 2007, Tinashe was sought out by pop songwriter Colleen ‘Vitamin C’ Fitzpatrick to become the lead singer of all-girl group The Stunners.
It was a symbolic moment for her family, who are academics at heart. Her mother, Aimie (of Danish, Norwegian and Irish descent), is a physical therapist while her father, Michael, is a professor of theatre at Cal State Pomona. “They’re both educators but they didn’t stress for me to finish college or anything,” says Tinashe as we cruise into Glendale. She even credits her dad, a stage actor originally from Zimbabwe, for giving her the showbiz bug from an early age. “He’s an actor and director – he instilled a love of performing on the stage in me, and never discouraged my dreams or goals.”
But for Michael, the decision was an eye-opener. “We thought, ‘What? No school? That’s all we’ve ever known,’” he explains. “But then we said, ‘OK, you have this window of opportunity right now. School is always going to be there for you if you want to go to school. If you want to go for it, just pursue that dream, we’re gonna support you.’” The Stunners flew under the mainstream for four years, opening for Justin Bieber on the My World Tour, before disbanding in 2011. But the experience was invaluable, and Tinashe quickly transitioned into a career as a solo artist. Her family remains hugely present in her life: she still lives in her childhood home, and only yesterday, the Kachingwe clan was on set for the “Player” video shoot.
Full interview:
http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/ar...e-inner-seeker
