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    Review: Tinashe's Joyride Was Worth The Wait

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    As an active Tinashe stan, when she first announced her Joyride project, I was met with a feeling of huge excitement. Aquarius, her previous effort, was one of the strongest debut albums by a female artist in R&B, so I expected nothing less than amazing.

    Tinashe quickly dropped the lead single 'Party Favors' featuring Young Thug. After listening to it for the first time, I instantly fell in love. Shortly after, to my confusion, it was announced that 'Party Favors' would not be the lead single for Joyride, and that she would be releasing the legitimate lead single as a collaboration with Chris Brown. I, like most people, had mixed feelings about a duet with Brown due to his past behaviour. I decided not to judge a track based on past actions of the featured artist, though, and gave the song a chance. Once again, I was in love. I honestly believed this could be her breakout hit.

    But, time passed and Tinashe had no promotion for the single whatsoever. Months passed, and she embarked on the Joyride World Tour with no album released. The concert was phenomenal, and meeting her was an amazing experience. Hearing unreleased music intended for the album was probably the best experience. I was so ready to finally hear Joyride. However, the tour was eventually cancelled and an album never seen.

    Two years after the Joyride World Tour, we finally have the album. Preceded by lead single 'No Drama', Tinashe delivered a strong body of work that was well worth the patience of her fans, affectionately called her “SweeTees.”

    If I were to say this album would be up to par with Aquarius, or even her Nightride mixtape released in late 2016, I would be lying. However, it was not a disappointing listen. Tinashe delivered excellence through the singles 'No Drama', 'Me So Bad', and 'Faded Love'. Album tracks showcased her ability to stand as a strong figure in R&B music, especially so in songs such as 'Stuck with Me' and 'No Contest'.

    My only complaint about the album is that with it only being thirteen tracks, the need for interludes is unnecessary. The album contains an intro and two interludes, leaving the listener with only ten tracks to enjoy. The fact that the songs are all strong pieces slightly makes up for this issue, but compared to Aquarius's eighteen tracks (nineteen if you own Best Buy’s deluxe edition), the album is very short for one that was delayed so many years.

    Altogether, though, Tinashe has proven she is here to stay. Even if she hasn’t been given efficient label support through RCA Records, or a chance at radio success, Tinashe is one of the most promising artists of this decade. I look forward to witnessing the future of her career.

    Rating: 75/100

    What did you think of Joyride? Let us know in the comments section down below!

    Edited by Countess

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    So nice to see you writing here! Well, i love Tinashe and Aquarius is one of the best albums ever released imo, so obviously when Joyride was announced i was super excited. Player was everything but then we started to see that things weren't going well for her. Then she released Superlove which was cute and Nightride which was amazing, but i guess that at that point we started to accept that Joyride wasn't going to be what she intended in 2015. I was really devastated when she released that disgusting song Flame and after reading that she was forced to release that shit i wasn't surprised at all. Anyway, what i mean is that after this long process i slowly lost my interest in this album. Like, of course i was happy to see her releasing the album finally and she seems to be pretty satisfied with the final thing after all, but tbh i'm not really amazed with anything besides the title track and No Contest. As a whole i think it is better than most successful things these days and i liked most of the tracks (this is a shade for you Me So Bad) but i don't see these songs going anywhere and they don't show her potential at all imo. I hope that she'll be dropped this year so she can start over with some label that really supports her ;)

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    On 4/14/2018 at 3:45 PM, victorxcx said:

    So nice to see you writing here! Well, i love Tinashe and Aquarius is one of the best albums ever released imo, so obviously when Joyride was announced i was super excited. Player was everything but then we started to see that things weren't going well for her. Then she released Superlove which was cute and Nightride which was amazing, but i guess that at that point we started to accept that Joyride wasn't going to be what she intended in 2015. I was really devastated when she released that disgusting song Flame and after reading that she was forced to release that shit i wasn't surprised at all. Anyway, what i mean is that after this long process i slowly lost my interest in this album. Like, of course i was happy to see her releasing the album finally and she seems to be pretty satisfied with the final thing after all, but tbh i'm not really amazed with anything besides the title track and No Contest. As a whole i think it is better than most successful things these days and i liked most of the tracks (this is a shade for you Me So Bad) but i don't see these songs going anywhere and they don't show her potential at all imo. I hope that she'll be dropped this year so she can start over with some label that really supports her ;)

    I really do want her at a new label. RCA is terrible. 2 On did well, but could've been bigger with a bigger push. AHOD was really the hit that got away. There's no reason that song shouldn't have easily gone top 10, especially with such a killer video. 

    I liked Me So Bad, but I think I just like it cause the video was so good. Flame was bad, but it doesn't surprise me RCA forced her to release it. I mean, it's RCA.

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