333

When Tinashe parted ways with her label in 2019, she welcomed the opportunity to take full control of her creative output. First came Songs for You, an acclaimed album that found the singer basking in her newfound liberation. 333 follows suit, as she bends and blurs lines to meld pop and R&B with electronic and hip-hop elements. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, she points to the stunning title track, a shape-shifting adventure that morphs from a stripped bed of harmonies into an orchestral dreamscape, as an example of her genre-busting pursuits. “I've always been inspired by James Blake and his use of silence, so I wanted to incorporate that on this project,” she explains. “I think that song is a perfect example of— to me, it doesn't fit like a particular genre at all. That's why I love it, is because it's just a sonic experience.”

Elsewhere, songs like “Let Me Down Slowly” or “Bouncin’, Pt. 2” further highlight her experimental streak, playing with tempos and atmosphere. Such moments stand in contrast to the album’s more constrained moments, but taken together, they all create a collage of both Tinashe’s inspirations and aspirations. “I'm really proud of myself with this project because I just feel like I took all of the things that I learned about what I didn't want to do, about how I didn't want to move, about like what doesn't feel right,” she says. “It's really helped me develop just a much more centered idea of what my art and my project and my purpose is.”