333 (studio album) by Tinashe

From Mercury 09/17/2021 06:51

(Alternative R&B with some really catchy pop tracks as well as some slower, more steamy tunes, and other stuff. Not much of interest I have to say except that this is a really solid album if you’re into this sorta thing.)

This is the 5th album by Tinashe. I have never heard any of her previous LPs and only have heard her and her music on a handful of songs over the years. Never paid much attention to her until this album dropped. Alternative R&B and modern soul/R&B I am super un-hip to. But something about this cover and this album seemed interesting and I listened the day it dropped, remembered liking it a lot, but then moved on and almost forgot to come back to it. Well, now I have rectified this!

Generally, I am not a fan of pop or alternative R&B. Not that I hate it, just not generally a genre that interests me or engages me. As a result, I don’t have much of a vocabulary to describe what I love, like, or dislike about music in this musical realm. I’ll do my best in this very short comment.

As far as Pop and R&B goes this is really good and I liked it. It features crisp, clean, and at times rich and luscious production. And the mood on this is equal parts sexy/alluring and lovelorn/earnest. This duality is nicely shown throughout the record where one track you wanna go out and get intimate with that certain someone, and the very next track you just sort of wanna sit down and ponder about the futility of romance and life.

Track-wise there are no major lowlights, the only thing that kept cropping up that annoyed me was the percussion sound – that crack! With no low end, that minimal sound – that just sounds cheap and pointless. Oh and the title track “333” was kind of bad to these ears.

But there are plenty of highlights. “X” is sexy and just about perfect. The chorus of “Bouncin” melts my soul. The slow, spacey, mournful beauty of “Angels” is stunning. “Let Me Down Slowly” at first felt lackluster and uninspired but I loved the way it slowly built up and introduced more textures and by the end I was really loving it. “Small Reminders” is a standout and maybe the best and most well-rounded, soulful and yet pop-y song here. And “Bouncin’, Pt. 2” and “That’s A Wrap” are a great 1-2 to close the album.

Overall, yep, this is really really good. Glad I remembered to circle back to it after a few months.