Among the artists who released new material this Friday, marking their return to music, is Tinashe. The R&B star stars in a highly anticipated comeback after the viral success of ‘Nasty’ and, above all, the summer phenomenon of ‘No Broke Boys’, which in its dance remix with Disco Lines has not left the charts in a year and is still there, already adding more than 760 million views on Spotify alone, a figure that is about to surpass that of ‘2 On’, his biggest hit to date.
The idea that the biggest success of Tinashe’s career is a dance remix is not very attractive, taking into account the sophisticated taste of her more R&B productions and collaborations: remember that Vladislav Delay, no less, produced ‘Gravity’.
Tinashe’s comeback single, ‘Too Easy’, again proposes a potentially visionary sound by embracing ghettotech, a style of electronic music originating in Detroit in the 90s. Tinashe uses a base full of powerful percussion and mechanized rhythms to convey her usual bravado and, in phrases like “I feel like a celebrity / If you’re mad, then go to therapy” or “I know that I’m a superstar / And they hate to see “I’ve come so far”, he claims his position in the industry while facing his haters.
The striking thing about ‘Too Easy’ is its duration, since it is a song that does not reach two minutes. Composed of recited or almost rapped verses, melodic verses and a chorus that leaves room for the rhythmic base and the “la la la” hook, it is a song that seeks to hook you quickly and that ends before you realize it.
The value of ‘Too Easy’ lies in its commitment to fusing Detroit techno with R&B, and also in its succession of pop hooks in a very short period of time. But perhaps the hooks are not as effective on this occasion, and the piece in general conveys a certain coldness, far from the quality of ‘Cash Race’ – one of their great lost classics – and far from the forceful production of ‘Die a Little Bit’. ‘Too Easy’ perhaps puts it “too easy”, and not in a good way.
Charging …