Tinashe: Broke Boys, Golf Bros & Short Kings

Alex Cooper (0:11)

Tinashe, welcome to Call Her Daddy.

Tinashe (0:13)

Hi, thanks for having me.

Alex Cooper (0:14)

I am so excited to have you here. I was thinking about this on my way here. I was like, the year was 2014

Tinashe (0:21)

Yeah.

Alex Cooper (0:22)

And I was a freshman in college. I had horrible extensions.

Tinashe (0:27)

Yeah, we were all dead at the time.

Alex Cooper (0:29)

You had to. It was a rite of passage, honestly. My hair was like silver. I had really bad eyelash extensions that were kind of coming off.

And when 2ON came out, the pregame was never the same. Anytime I felt like I was like, I need to feel something, I would put it on, I would get ready, and I would feel so confident going out that night. And since then, you have continued to release music that makes me feel that way. And you've also just continued, I feel like, to really navigate a difficult industry and make a name for yourself while also not losing yourself, which I'm very excited to talk to you about today.

Tinashe (1:06)

Thank you so much.

Alex Cooper (1:07)

Of course.

Tinashe (1:07)

That's always the goal. It's like, make the listener feel like her best self.

Alex Cooper (1:12)

And then when I was doing research, I was interested to learn that your personality, you say you're a little bit more low-key.

Tinashe (1:19)

I'm very low-key.

Alex Cooper (1:20)

And you're interested in things like aliens and the Loch Ness Monster. How did we get here? How did that start? Tell me everything.

Tinashe (1:28)

No, that was like my elementary school fixation, like library books. Like, I was like, what are we learning about the conspiracy theories? Like, I was diving in deep from a young age, you know? Questioning everything. Very aquarius, I feel.

Alex Cooper (1:44)

Are you still like that?

Tinashe (1:45)

I'm definitely still like that. But I'm not like deep on the Loch Ness Monster. I feel like I've found out everything there is to find out at this point. They still haven't found her, so it's like...

Alex Cooper (1:54)

Oh, you're like a full expert. Okay, so is your For You page just like a bunch of conspiracy theories? No, not anymore, not anymore.

Tinashe (2:02)

It's plants, honestly. I'm like a plant mom. Big plant girl.

Alex Cooper (2:06)

Is your place just filled with plants?

Tinashe (2:07)

I have like 50 plants.

Alex Cooper (2:08)

What's your favorite plant?

Tinashe (2:10)

Oh my gosh, I can't make a favorite. They're like my children.

Alex Cooper (2:13)

So this is your whole house?

Tinashe (2:14)

Yeah, my whole house. Actually, my favorite plant is a plant that my mom's had from college, and she like propagated it time and time again. It's had babies all over town. It's beautiful.

Alex Cooper (2:26)

What else is on your algorithm? I'm trying to think of like Tinashe opens her phone. I'm like, what's going on over there?

Tinashe (2:30)

No, it's so funny. My IG, whatever, is full plants. Like, it's so funny.

But yeah, I don't know. I like to keep it that way. I've curated it.

Alex Cooper (2:40)

I was going to say. To a T. That's strategic.

Tinashe (2:42)

It's so calming.

Alex Cooper (2:44)

You know when like you get on the wrong side of the internet and you're scrolling and then you're like, I don't know how I got on the side or just like negativity and you're like, working so hard to rework your algorithm and like I'm watching the cooking video that I'm actually not even interested in, but like this will be my new algo.

Tinashe (3:00)

The worst is when it's like someone that like you have beef with or like an enemy and they keep coming up and you're like, I don't want to see this. You're like pressing.

Alex Cooper (3:08)

It's so scary. No, it's the internet is a scary, scary world, but I'm glad that you've curated yours to make yourself feel better.

Tinashe (3:15)

It's peaceful. It's great.

Alex Cooper (3:16)

How would your friends describe you?

Tinashe (3:19)

Oh, good question. I don't know. Probably hard working, all those things, a perfectionist, somebody who constantly is striving for that next thing, raising the bar for myself. But I enjoy just hanging out and being with the girls, being with my family, being outside. So I think they would describe me as kind of low key.

Alex Cooper (3:42)

I don't know, actually.

I saw a writer describe you once as a post-apocalyptic baddie who is making art and dropping it low in the face of life's paradoxes. Does that resonate at all?