Tinashe’s Match My Freak World Tour Did Not Match My Freak

Tinashe’s world tour show at MTELUS did not live up to the level of freak I expected. The R&B legend, who’s been in the game for over a decade, gained more popularity with her album Quantum Baby riding the wave of Brat Summer. The show was well done and long, the dancers and Tinashe were very talented, but there was a lack of aesthetic continuance. Song transitions felt disjointed, as if there was a slew of creative directors who didn’t talk to each other. I was expecting a Sweat Tour type of experience, with Tinashe’s music gaining strong popularity in the Charli XCX Brat club crowd with her leading single “Nasty” a testament to needing a freaky hottie who can keep up, yet this did not carry through to her show.

The opener was ethereal American singer-songwriter Raveena. She was sweet and heartwarming and had fans in the audience, but I found she was not a good opener for Tinashe. Openers are meant to raise the audience's energy levels, to prepare them for the headliner, and their music should be compatible. Raveena’s soft jazz-influenced R&B did not do this. Her music feels very ‘floaty’, like you’re relaxing in a bed of the fluffiest pillows under the giant tree of ribbons and pearls she had on stage. When Tinashe eventually came on stage the change from cuddly cuteness to sexy and sweaty was drastic. Raveena would have done better at a smaller, more intimate venue where her fans are eager to drain their phone batteries using their flashlights during her multiple ballads.

As the crew was rolling out and screwing in the set ahead of Tinashe, a girl next to me said to her friend: ‘ok budget’. That sums it up pretty well. There were multiple giant screens at the back of the stage that showed ads for some perfume company partnered with Tinashe, and played videos throughout her set. The videos were cool, sometimes playing snippets from her music videos, sometimes acting like a backdrop, but I found them to be quite distracting, especially when the video was Tinashe covered in slime. Tinashe’s four dancers were impressive and hot, it was cool to see them just hanging out and goofing around on stage one minute, then perfectly falling into the choreography the next. My favorite part of the show was when the camera operator right at the barricade in front of the stage would video Tinashe and project it onto the screens, creating a giant Tinashe standing behind her. 

The level of interaction between Tinashe and the audience was interesting. She didn’t talk much between the songs, and there was no encore, but during the last two songs, ‘Broke Boys’ and ‘Nasty’, the cameras would turn towards the audience, projecting us onto the stage screens. After the applause died down Tinashe signed autographs for fans in the front row, which I wasn’t expecting to see after she barely greeted us during the show. I feel like when artists get big they detach themselves from their fans, for good reason, so it was nice to see that Tinashe didn’t seem to need to do that.

Earlier that evening I saw a headline about the show that Tinashe gets hot and intimate with one of her dancers, I was expecting, again, a Sweat Tour moment of Troye Sivan serenading and grinding on a dancer. The sexy moments between Tinashe and the dancer were hot but short, feeling more like a piece of choreography rather than part of the performance itself. Where is the freak we’re supposed to be matching? 

My problem with this concert is it felt like they were trying to do too many different things. Just before Tinashe came on stage there was an opening video, made just like the ‘Nasty’ music video of a post-apoctalypitc-desert-escape-superhuman-convict vibe, creating anticipation for a concept that would carry us through the show. That did not happen. The projected videos would change drastically between songs, and often didn’t make any sense, like, why was she covered in slime for two whole minutes? I wish there were more of a continued aesthetic throughout the show, it felt disjointed and almost awkward, the creative directors could’ve built a sexy superhero-type narrative, employing the multiple prop structures of security cameras to create an ‘evading the police plus I’m sexy and covered in dirt’ moment that reflected the vibe of the album and single covers. 

Tinashe is a really talented artist and singer, and she demonstrated that well, but I was missing the freak she touts in ‘Nasty’ like she wasn’t even matching her own freak. The dancing, the outfits, the makeup, all of this could’ve been freakier, but it felt like she was trying to cater to a more ‘basic’ crowd rather than the freaks. The audience was really diverse, Tinashe’s been making popular music for 10 years now, yet I wish I saw more alternative representation. In her discography you can hear her movement away from mainstream straight club hits to something more alternative and interesting, but it seems that hasn’t permeated through her fan base yet. There were a lot of normies, and the type of girl squads that force their way through a crowd when there is clearly no space for them. I wonder if Tinashe held some of her freak back because of these demographics. Someone did bring a small child who sat on their parent's shoulders and danced, sending hand hearts to Tinashe who would respond with smiles. It was really adorable, so it's understandable that Tinashe’s creative team didn’t want her leaning into the hedonistic sluttiness that exudes from her recent albums. But still, I’m left wondering where that freak that I’m supposed to be matching is.