The cover for ‘Quantum Baby,’ the latest LP from Tinashe.
It’s been a massive few months for Tinashe, fresh off her highest-charting solo single and a year removed from one of her bigger critical successes with BB/ANG3L. Towards the top of the year, she promised a sequel to that trim project, and after a few months of waiting, it’s finally here. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest Tinashe release, Quantum Baby.
How Quantum Baby Connects To This Current Tinashe Era
Though it’s typically a fool’s errand comparing the current release to the last one, with Quantum Baby serving as the second of a trilogy, comparisons to last year’s BB/ANG3L feel more warranted. Though thematically you’ll find Tinashe still discussing the same concepts of love, regret and loss, there’s a larger stylistic shift at work.
In the B-sides of her earlier projects is where her penchant for alternative, woozy production was first forged, and since splitting from the major label system, that tendency has only grown stronger, culminating with the left-of-field alt R&B of BB/ANG3L. Further, she dipped her toe into the world of hyper-pop, a lane thoroughly tread by her other peers.
Tinashe’s 7th Album Leans Into A Trap-Inspired Punch
With all that said, Quantum Baby feels like expounding on her early career work with the arty bend she’s honed over the past few years. Take “Thirsty,” the third song chronologically and the second piece of brand new material on the project. Flighty, airy vocals define the opening half of the song, while more full-bodied counterparts take their place in the close, but trap-flavored, sticky percussion sets the tone the whole way through.
Just one song later, “Red Flags,” already emerging as one of the more popular from the tracklist, provides a perfect counterpunch. Slow developing and almost devoid of drums entirely, this song finds its center with darting, introspective synth lines, allowing Tinashe’s skill as a vocalist and storyteller to take center stage. As the song creeps to a finish, it seamlessly dovetails into “Cross That Line,” further elucidating the push & pull of a relationship the singer regards as too far gone while bringing it closer to the booming, sultry through line that runs through the full duration.
Will Any Song From Quantum Baby Deliver Another Breakout?
From there, “When I Get You Alone” is another exercise in contrast, pitching a metered performance by Tinashe over the booming beats that so often appear here on Quantum Baby. That’s far from true for the follow-up, “No Broke Boys.” The song is infectious: feel good and easily relatable without feeling too on the nose. While recapturing the “Nasty” moment is a tall task, if any song can reach that status, it’s “No Broke Boys.”
That dovetails well into that breakout single, which serves as almost a baked-in encore at the end of the tracklist. If you’re tapped in on any level, this certainly won’t be your first time hearing the song, and it fits perfectly well into its neighbors on Quantum Baby. Taking a victory lap with a song that will unquestionably define this current era of Tinashe’s music, and likely the summer of 2024, is fully warranted. Ideally, though, the song’s success will prompt audiences to listen to the R&B star’s full catalog rather than just stopping at one single.
If listeners respond to that prompt, they won’t have to go very far; Quantum Baby continues Tinashe’s best period of music and notches a few entries into her essential canon. We’ll have to wait and see what direction the finale of this trilogy brings, but Tinashe hitting her stride couldn’t have come at a better time.
You can catch Quantum Baby and the full Tinashe discography wherever you get your music.
Elsewhere in our coverage, Fromis_9 – Supersonic brings the K-pop outfit back from a 14-month hiatus.
