Tinashe has become so well-known for her award-winning music career, that it’s easy to forget that she first found fame as an award-winning actress. But we’ll get to that because for nearly a decade now, she has been a unique and prolific singer and performer, dropping major tracks like ‘2 On’ (284 million Spotify streams), releasing five albums, and guesting on tracks with the varied likes of Nick Jonas, Ty Dolla Sign, Britney, and Enrique Iglesias. In summer 2022, she starred on ‘New To You’, a track from Calvin Harris’ hit album, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2.

Hailing from Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe got her first taste of fame as a child actress — she was a motion capture model for The Polar Express movie and won a Young Artist Award for her role as Robin Wheeler in the Cartoon Network sitcom, Out of Jimmy’s Head. However, she had a passion for music and joined a girl group called The Stunners, who supported Justin Bieber on tour. When that band split in 2011, she began a solo career, teaching herself how to record and mix. The result was her debut mixtape, In Case We Die, which dropped in early 2012.

Tinashe had soon signed a major-label deal and scored a massive hit with ‘2 On’ in 2014. She also went out on the road, opening for the likes of Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, and Beyonce. She also hooked up on tracks with A$AP Rocky, Young Thug, Chris Brown, and others. Fast forward to 2021, and her fifth album, 333, was included in many major Album of the Year round-ups and saw Tinashe head out on her own four-month tour of the United States.