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‘Identifying as underrated isn’t healthy’: Tinashe on staging the pop comeback of the year

The raw sexuality of her track Nasty made it a viral sensation, moving the singer out of major label hell. But she says the industry is still toxic and racially segregated

Some are having a Brat summer, inspired by Charli xcx’s frank, debauched new album; others are choosing to get “nasty”, tapping into a straightforwardly horny call-to-arms from the American singer Tinashe on her single of the same name: “Is somebody gonna match my freak?” Nasty, which arrived 10 years after the release of 2 On, puts a blingy capstone on Tinashe’s recent career, after bucking the major label system and, somewhat improbably, emerging more successful than before: it’s her first Billboard Hot 100 entry in the US as a lead artist since 2 On. Between Tinashe and her onetime collaborator Charli xcx – who also found mainstream success a decade ago, before retreating and re-emerging on to the charts this year – it’s a good time to be an idiosyncratic player of the long game.

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