Yeah. Hi, everyone. Nasthony Freaktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of the new Tinashe album, Quantum Baby.

Here we have the latest and, I believe, seventh full-length LP from pop and alternative RnB artist and singer, Tinashe, which arrives at a pretty significant time in her career, as her departure from her long-time record label, RCA Records was not that long ago at this point. It was a place where she has expressed in interviews since where she was experiencing a lot of limitations on her artistic freedom.

Last year, she independently released the fantastic Baby Angel record/mini-album, which I felt was one of her most creative and narratively conceptual projects yet, where she was clearly coming into her own more as an independent artist. It also turns out that Baby Angel was the start of what is an ongoing trilogy now, which Quantum Baby is supposed to be the second part of.

And this project also contains what is truly her biggest and most viral hit to date. That would be "Nasty", a track whose music and lyrics have really taken the internet by storm over the last several months. I mean, it is a legitimate banger, but the phrase match my freak has suddenly become a new vernacular for being with somebody whose sexual energy is similar to yours, be that in terms of, I guess, stamina or wildness, whatever it may be.

But yeah, match my freak seemingly is not going anywhere anytime soon, and Tinashe can very much be credited with that.

So right now with this record, she really seems to be on a career high right now. And as a result of that, I went into Quantum Baby with a lot of excitement and expectations because the potential really was there to bring us something just as good, if not better, than its predecessor, which was already great. But now that I've had time to really dig into the project, I think it falls surprisingly short, even if there are some individual tracks that I think are very good and stand very well on their own.

The entire record kicks off with "No Simulation", which is a motif/meditation to start things off. It's a super low-key tone setter, which there's nothing wrong with in concept if we're actually going to follow through through with music afterwards that maybe ups the ante a bit and, I don't know, introduces us to a mood or a narrative that we're going to be able to follow along with.

It seems like that's going to be the case with Tinashe talking about this search for truth in her life, this search for a reality of some sort. She doesn't want to live in a simulation. She wants a true love, and she wants a journey that feels reflective of the world that she knows as she is making her way through life and her career.

But then following this, we have "Getting No Sleep", which I'm still blown away was a single because the experience of listening to it is just so drab and underwhelming. And in the context of the record, I don't really think it works all that well either. I was just hoping for a bit more heat after such a dodgy start to the record. I think the only thing that comes across as engaging or somewhat valid about the track is the subject matter, I suppose, where Tinashe is struggling to find the ability to sleep or rest in the midst of the very hectic and demanding life she's living at the moment, while also trying to find room for making emotional and physical connections in the midst of all that, too, which sounds like a lot because I'm sure it is, but the end result is just really one dimensional and flat, lifeless. Maybe we actually do need sleep. Maybe some vibrance would enter the fold as a result. I don't know.

Things do pick up, though, on the following track, "Thirsty", which is a sexy dreamy slow jam. The song structure is okay. The chorus doesn't pop off that hard, but still the vibe of the track is alluring. I suppose it does add to the overall narrative of the project a bit, as it does seem like she's getting lost in the physicality of this romantic connection that she describes, missing a flight she needed to be on, which had me thinking, are we going to find a life balance between what's going on, things and obligations that we need to do, but also maybe find time for herself? But no, we're not doing that.

Immediately after this, we go into the song "Red Flags", which is a jarring move because we're going from being completely just into this connection that we're suddenly having to worrying about red flags, and doing so on a song that barely feels like a song that has the worst and most dodgy structure of any track on the entire album. Lyrically, she doesn't really go into this topic all that deeply - what red flags she's picking up in the midst of this connection. What red flags is she missing? What are the actual concerns and are they real or are they made up? We just really don't know. I just left this track with more questions than answers and not even really a melody or a beat to have stuck in my head after it was done. It just really feels like a bit of filler.

What's even more confusing is right after this, we go into the song, "Cross That Line" where Tinashe is openly proclaiming that this person she's dealing with could be the love of her life, and she's ready to cross that line and fully commit. Which again, how did we get here? How are we going from one place to the next? What is the progression? And look, I only bring this up, and I only say this because the predecessor to this record, Baby Angel, did very much have a sensible narrative connection to a love that had a peak, and then it fell off immediately after. Meanwhile, this comparatively just doesn't really have any sense of cohesion or coherence to it. And really, that is all Quantum Baby seems to be able to know how to do so far - just pack confusing story lines and narrative switches into super underwhelming tunes and instrumentals.

Now, thankfully, the entire project closes out with a trio of songs that are the strongest on the entire record, but not because they add to the storyline of anything per se. There's "When I Get You Alone", which is a straight up, actually alluring and catchy sex jam that is even more sultry than "Thirsty" was and has a palpable groove to it, too. Again, doesn't really reinforce anything else on the record in the grander scheme of things, but it sounds good while it's on, and I do think it is one of the most solid tunes on the entire LP.

Then following this, we have "No Broke Boys", which I think is the most fun song, second to "Nasty", of course, in the tracklist, where, yeah, it's essentially a single girls anthem, an I Have Standards Now anthem. "No Broke Boys." It's actually memorable. It's actually snappy while still being very smooth and low-key. I wish more songs on the record hit the balance that this one does. In fact, that's what made so much of Baby Angel so good. And yet we're just struggling for the first half of this record to get there, unfortunately.

Then to close things out, "Nasty" is still nasty. I like it. It's great. But throwing it in at the end of the record here just feels almost like a consolation prize in a way, because, again, while it is still a bop and it is still enjoyable, it sticks out like a sore thumb in a lot of ways because it's such an ear worm and just makes me wish that the rest of the record was this catchy, this good, this fun, and this creative. Though I guess if we are ending things off in a way where we are single once again, I suppose this track does leave things maybe on a cliffhanger with Tinashe wondering, Is somebody going to match my freak? Who's going to do it? Who's going to match my freak?

Overall, with all of that being said, I feel like there were a few strong moments here and there on Quantum Baby, most notably toward the end. But the entire record itself, I think in comparison with its predecessor, is shabby, as a lot of the production and song ideas are pretty drab, not to mention the total lack of coherence and consistency on the lyrical and narrative side, moments like the intro and "Red Flags" that feel totally underexplored and underwritten.

And overall, I thought Baby Angel was way more consistent in terms of delivering great tracks from front to back. Meanwhile, Quantum Baby here takes a while, in fact, way too long to really start dishing out its best moments. And don't even get your hopes up in terms of this thing telling a story that's worth diving into. I mean, I'm glad this thing came out because I guess it was important for Tinashe to really touch the commercial rim in the way that she did with "Nasty" while being independent. I hope that only helps her career going into the future and drives more attention toward what she's doing.

But personally, I would have much rather preferred a project that was just more well put together and more well-groomed and just a bit more, I don't know, thought through, which is why I'm feeling a strong 5 to a light 6 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano. Tinashe. Forever.