Tinashe: "Make Things Happen For Yourself, Don't Wait For a Guy."

As far as feminine R&B and pop idols go these days, power seems to equal hyper-precise choreography, extreme costuming, and a will that’s as strong and cool to the touch as iron—or else it’s straight up physicality and sex on a platter. Tinashe, the 21-year-old R&B(-ish) singer-songwriter who’s blowing up the charts with singles like “2 On” and “Pretend” has a different vibe. She carries a sultry ease, warmth and style. She dances in Timberlands and cutoffs, somehow gorgeous in non-designer sweats. She boasts a voice that doesn’t need to hide its sweetness in order to seem fierce.

“I think it’s cool to show that you can be sexy without being obvious,” says Tinashe, “and there are different ways to go about doing that for sure.”

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While Tinashe isn’t much of a girly-girl, “I definitely hang out with the guys,” she does love beauty—as long as it is low key. “I like to get my hair done and my nails done. I like things that smell nice and look pretty. I like shoes. But yeah, I’m not very high maintenance.” Plenty of people may say that, yet carry around a makeup kit the size of a construction worker’s lunchbox, but Tinashe really means it. “I try to have clean skin, really nice clean skin—I use X Out. I don’t wear that much makeup off stage, I like to give myself a break. So it’s just lip balm and sunscreen…. My biggest tip is to wash your face, don’t sleep in makeup, and wear sunscreen. That one is huge, for sure.”

True beauty, she says, “translates with confidence. When you’re confident, that’s when you look your best and feel your best.” And what about those times we all have when things just don’t turn out how we want them to? “Remind yourself that every setback isn’t really a setback, it just means you have to take a different route. I never look at bad times as the end of anything.”

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Her debut solo album, Aquarius, released in October, is full of subtle, hypnotic texture—and a couple minimalist bangers, too. Seductively trippy and melodic without relying on tricks of traditional hooks, it features collaborations with Schoolboy Q, A$AP Rocky, Dev Hynes, and major producers like Boy Wonder and Stuart Matthewman (who’s collaborated with Sade since inception). But the guys aren’t there to validate her talent—they are her peers.

A professional performer since age eight, Tinashe has modeled, acted in TV and film, competitively danced, and formerly sang in girl group Stunners, who opened for Justin Bieber in 2010, then disbanded. She can’t even remember a time when she wasn’t ambitious. “I’ve had a lifelong dream for as long as I could remember,” says Tinashe. “I’ve made a lot of sacrifices up until this point to get to where I am”—including skipping prom and college—“so it’s like, there’s no Plan B.”

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Tinashe is so dedicated to her craft, she built a recording studio in her bedroom. The singer still lives in her childhood home near Los Angeles—which means work is the first thing she gets to when she wakes, and the last thing she does before she sleeps. “Music takes up 99.999 percent of my time, my day, my energy,” says Tinashe. And while yes, that’s some serious stamina and dedication, “I’ve had the same focus for a long time,” she says, “so it’s almost like second-nature at this point.”

You can hear that intimacy she has with her own work: her lyrics have bedroom eyes; her voice, a kind of assured longing for something she wants and knows she’s going to get someday. Her syllables linger, then suddenly snap to attention, like they’ve dozed off and suddenly realized they’re at the wheel here. So it makes sense that these songs were created in her bedroom, as a half-asleep dream state infiltrates Aquarius, enhancing the fantasy of her in-between-worlds melodic sensibility.

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In the weeks leading up to the release of Aquarius—and all of them since—Tinashe’s kept a tight schedule, with video talk show appearances, radio show interviews, club and award ceremony performances, and photo shoots all over the country and UK. She starts her Aquarius Tour with a handful of US concerts this month, with European dates in March next year.

While her free time is limited, usually spent with family or outdoors hiking like a true LA girl, she does let herself go out and have fun every once in a while. Her ultimate “getting ready” song right now is “No Type” by Rae Sremmurd, but that will probably change soon. “The best part about music,” says Tinashe, “is there’s always something fresh you can put on that can make you inspired for the night.”

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The bravest thing a young woman can do to empower herself is “to get out there and make things happen for herself, to not wait for a guy or other people to make things happen,” Tinashe says, speaking from her own experience. “Just go out there and do it.”

Tinashe’s Aquarius Tour kicks off in Los Angeles on December 5. Find more information here.