Singer Tinashe reflects on working with R. Kelly and Chris Brown a few years back.
During a recent interview, she called both collaborations embarrassing starting with her song with Kelly, “Let’s Be Real Now.” She said, “I literally block out that R. Kelly song from my mind. I forget that it even exists.” The singer continued, “That is so embarrassing. That is so unreal that I even have a song with R. Kelly. That’s so embarrassing.”
She went on to say that she was young when the song came out and that she didn’t have a lot of control over who she collaborated with, it was her label’s decision. During that time, she was signed to RCA Records.
“Especially when it comes to singles, for example, that song with Chris Brown. That was a song that we all wanted it to be this big moment, this big single. So I feel like, in their mind, they were like ‘You need the support.’ He was their biggest artist that they had on rhythmic radio at the time. To me, I was like, ‘Well, this is a pop song. So, I really don’t feel like we should put Chris on it.’ That doesn’t compute to me, but I don’t know.”
Chris Brown was charged with the assault of then-girlfriend, Rihanna, in 2009 and R. Kelly was convicted of nine charges of racketeering, and sex trafficking in 2021. Tinashe left RCA Records in 2019 and is signed with Nice Life Recording Company.
See the interview clip below.