Tinashe on growing up mixed-race: ‘I feel like I don’t fully fit in’
During an interview with The Guardian, singer Tinashe talked double standards for women in music and not fitting in as a mixed race woman.
Tinashe sat down recently for a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian that covered everything from her growing up years to her current struggles as an artist, and during that interview, she spoke to the need for Black female artists to get the same support as Black men.
“It’s so much easier for male artists, I know it is,” she said.
She blasted the idea that male and female artists couldn’t collaborate without being in a relationship, calling for male artists and producers to support their female counterparts, before she called out another part of the industry culture: fans who think they have to pick which Black female artist they like.
“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 said.
She then 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.”
In that same interview, Tinashe also spoke about colorism and her experience as a mixed-race woman.
“There’s colorism involved in the Black community, which is very apparent,” she said. “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.”
“I am what I am,” she added.
To read the full interview, you can go here.
