Tinashe, who recently released her new album BB/Ang3l, has expressed regret over some of her past collaborations. She specifically mentioned her work with Chris Brown and R. Kelly, which she described as “embarrassing”. These collaborations, “Player” and “Let’s Be Real Now”, took place in 2015 when she was signed with RCA Records.
During an appearance on the Zach Sang Show on September 13, Tinashe was asked if she felt forced into these collaborations by her record label. She responded with a laugh, “You think I wanted to? I literally… I block out that R. Kelly song from my mind. I forget that it even exists. That is so embarrassing. That is so unreal that I even have a song with R. Kelly. That’s so embarrassing. Yes, that was label-y! […] And I was so young, too, which is crazy because I feel like I did that song when I just signed to that label. I was probably, like, 20. That was crazy.”
Sang then suggested that despite the public perception that Tinashe willingly participated in these collaborations, she likely had little control over the situation. Tinashe agreed, stating, “You do, a thousand percent. Especially when it comes to singles, for example — that song with Chris [Brown]: that was a song that I put a lot of… we all wanted it to be this big moment, this big single. So I feel like, in their mind, they were like, ‘You need the support.’ He was their biggest artist that they had on rhythmic radio at the time. To me, I was like, ‘Well, this is a pop song. So, I really don’t feel like we should put Chris on it.’ That doesn’t compute to me, but… I don’t know.”
Source: uproxx.com