Tinashe Takes the Path Less Travelled to Musical Alignment — astrology breakdown

Tinashe’s music has a distinctly nebulous feel to it. True to her Aquarius roots her music is capable of switching up at any minute. At times it is bright and upbeat, at other times aloof and inquisitive but always forward thinking.

In 2014 the singer released her critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Aquarius’. Serving as a formal introduction to her as an artist, the album contains songs that echo back her mixtape days, such as Indigo Child (interlude) and Cold Sweat whilst highlighting her popstar ambitions on singles 2 On and All Hands on Deck.

Although known as the water bearer, Aquarius is actually an air sign. Ruled by the planets Uranus and Saturn, it represents humanitarian spirit, technology and innovation.

Longtime fans of Tinashe will recognise these themes in her extensive discography. Spanning ten projects, each is affectionately accompanied with a trailer. Not only does this build hype for the project but it also adds another layer to the sonic world building of her albums and mixtapes.

The trilogy of mixtapes that precede her album- ‘In Case We Die’, ‘Reverie’ and ‘Black Water’ all centre on world-ending abstract concepts. Let’s take her second mixtape, Reverie, as an example.

Reverie can be broken down into three definitions;

REVERIE — ‘a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream.’

‘An instrumental piece suggesting a dreamy or musing state.’

‘A fanciful or impractical idea or theory’

Inspired by the drama of the 2012 US presidential election, Tinashe describes the mixtapes creation: ‘a disconnect from our REAL political duties as citizens of this Earth, and a neglect for the true issues human beings around the globe face every single day. We are so caught up in our media, in our jobs, in our gossip, and in our consumption that we genuinely feel like we don’t have the time or ENERGY to bother ourselves with the tribulations of nations near and far. This… is a synthetic world many of us live in today — a dream, if you will.’ — from her blog

The mixtape opens with the track ‘Fear Not,’ a bold statement in itself.

‘Tryna live my life, working for a cause, chasin my ambition, giving it my all. How are you supposed to lift your own feet off the ground when the whole damn world still tryna bring you down?’

It’s here that we begin to see the aquarian aloofness, extreme determination and concern for humanity come to fruition in her work. But this verse goes deeper. With laser sharp foresight sheseemingly foreshadows her precarious position in the music industry and label troubles.

Similar musings can be noted in her third mixtape, 2013’s Black Water.

‘Black Water really represents a period of time. Where it’s at night and you know when water is very still and it looks like glass and it’s black and you can’t see, and I think that’s a metaphor for saying, you know the storm is coming, take advantage of this time, and that is obviously another metaphor for other things.’

Time, discipline are both concepts ruled by Saturn in astrology. Known as the grand teacher, Saturn gives things longevity, but restricts first too. Known to starve planets it makes aspects to, Tinashe has her Saturn in Aquarius in the 10th house, conjunct her sun sign.

For those who don’t know, a conjunction is when two (or more) planets line up together in the same sign, within close degrees of each other. Each planet serves it’s own purpose but in a conjunction their energies blend, sometimes to the detriment of one. If you’ve never believed in astrology because you don’t fit the archetypal sign description, aspects and house placements can probably explain why.

This conjunction takes place in her 10th house — the house of careers, achievements, — your life’s work essentially. Although her career had a promising start, her releases since her debut have been delayed, sporadic and at times not seeming to match up with her own personal sound.

If her mixtape era is before the storm, and her time under RCA the literal storm then her critically acclaimed independent releases Songs For You (2019) and 333 (2021) are her post-apocalyptic revisioned utopia.

If 2019’s first independent release Songs For You felt the most cohesive, 333 feels the most authentic. Amongst the ashes of her old record deal with RCA the singer takes things up a notch, finally honing on her creative desires and creating an alternate reality where she can live out her pop star desires on her own terms

From easing virtual reality in the music videos to singles ‘Pasadena’ and ‘Bouncin,’ to puting on entire virtual concerts in the wake of the pandemic, her tenth project 333 showcases her forward-thinking nature and insane creativity.

Album opener ‘I Can See the Future’ and ‘Small Reminders’ reign true to her prophetic roots, whilst Shy Guy, Bouncin and Pasadena bring in a new dimension of pop with light scattering beats and featherlight vocals. On Bouncin part 2 she’s sexy, whilst Kaytranada assisted ‘Unconditional’ serves as the album’s two part standout (Songs for You features, Cash Race and Know Better.) Finally, family affair ‘It’s a wrap’ brings the album to a solid close.