Fans React To Tinashe’s Comments About Colourism

US singer Tinashe shared in an interview that she is not fully accepted by the black community due to the fact that she is of mixed heritage. The interview with The Guardian looked at the 24 year old entertainer’s career including her delayed sophomore album ‘Joyride’.

She indicated that factors such as colourism and sexism are part of the reasons that she’s not at the top:

“There’s colourism involved in the black community, which is very apparent. It’s about trying to find a balance where I’m a mixed woman, and sometimes I feel like I don’t fully fit into the black community; they don’t fully accept me, even though I see myself as a black woman. That disconnect is confusing sometimes. I am what I am.

There’s a lot of sexism in the music business. A lot of sexism. As far as female producers or female engineers … when you’re in these studios, it’s all men. It is so rare that they’d not even expect me to have an opinion.”

She then mentioned that pop superstars Beyoncé and Rihanna are the ideal of what a black female stars should be. Due to this fact she is challenged to be in their position.

It didn’t take long before Black Twitter came after the ‘Flame’ singer. Most of her fans, mostly of colour, shared their sentiments about how she should work harder and make music that appeals to the audience.

Tinashe took to Twitter hours later to defend herself. She shared that her words were taken out of context and even called out The Guardian writer who published the piece.

Unfortunately this is not the first time that Tinashe has commented about being biracial. In 2016 in an interview with Complex she shared how boys wouldn’t date her because of her mixed heritage.

Tinashe’s father is a Zimbabwean while her mother is Danish. She and her siblings have Zimbabwean names.
The irony of Tinashe’s statement is that she has a large fan base in Africa particularly Zimbabwe, from where her father is from. She has been nominated in various Zimbabwean awards both at home and in the diaspora. When she was presented by media to the world, she was a young black, American woman, with an African name and selling R&B music.

She might have been taken out of context but her fans of colour aren’t too happy with her statements. Colourism in America is very sensitive in black communities and even more in entertainment. However, fair skinned black women have been noted to be more successful than dark skinned women.

Furthermore there are so many successful female celebrities of mixed heritage including Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Jasmine Guy and Halle Berry.

It’s with hope that Tinashe will make a public statement and try to win her black fans again. She made the 2017 Forbes Africa’s Richest Musicians which should count for how well received she is not only in the black community, but on the African continent.

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