Tinashe Admits To Being “Disappointed, But Not Surprised” About VMAs Snub

Tinashe is still looking for someone to match her freak, but the singer has been up to much more as she prepares for the release of her album, Quantum Baby . Last week, MTV announced the nominees for the 2024 Video Music Awards and the “ Nasty ” singer was notably missing from the list.

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While discussing the snub with Billboard , Tinashe was admittedly “disappointed, but not surprised.”

She confessed, “I’ve never been nominated for an award, period. I did get nominated for a BET award once. Other than that, I’ve never been nominated. I definitely wasn’t counting on that.”

Later in the conversation, she declared her hit, “ Nasty ,” to be the song of the summer and also discussed another notorious moment from this summer—the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

When asked about it, being that Tinashe is a rap fan, she shared, “I’m here for it. I loved it. I thought it was exciting just to see how much discourse was going on.”

She expressed that the back-and-forth sparring “reminded me of a blog era spirit,” explaining that it was because of “how quickly everyone was releasing things and it just felt free.” Tinashe continued, “It felt real and it wasn’t label politics or on some intricate timeline and rollouts. It was just raw so I love that.”

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Despite being born in Kentucky, she was raised in Pasadena, Calif., and thus, declared K. Dot the winner of the beef.

Though “ Nasty ” grew in prominence because of its viral moments, Tinashe hopes other artists — both indie and mainstream — don’t make music with that goal in mind.

“I think it can help, obviously, a lot. I think it has a big impact, but I also think it’s fickle. I wouldn’t put all my eggs in that basket. I think there’s plenty of cases of songs that blow up in a viral way that don’t connect to a real audience. I think it’s a piece of the puzzle and part of what makes it successful,” she noted.

The 31-year-old feels it’s “kinda dangerous” to create with that in mind, adding, “I think it’s something to consider, but as soon as you start trying to cater your music to a 15-second snippet — once you chase things, period, the energy of chasing is not conducive to good creativity. It used to be chasing something that sounded like a radio hit and now it’s what’s cool on TikTok. Chasing anything isn’t wise.”

Her new album, Quantum Baby , is the second installment in a trilogy that follows 2023’s BB/ANG3L . It arrives on Friday, Aug. 16.

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