Tinashe Regrets ‘Embarrassing’ Collaborations with Chris Brown & R. Kelly While Signed to Major Label

Tinashe is taking a stance against her past collaborations with Chris Brown and R. Kelly. The 30-year-old artist appeared on The Zach Sang Show this week, where she expressed her regret for being “forced” into making the songs by her former label, RCA Records.

In 2015, Tinashe, legal name Tinashe Kachingwe, made a guest appearance on R. Kelly’s “Let’s Be Real Now” from the disgraced artist’s 2015 album The Buffet. Since R. Kelly’s early career, allegations of sexual abuse and grooming surrounded the singer-songwriter, who’s now in prison for child sex crimes.

“I literally block out that R. Kelly song from my mind," Kachingwe said. "I forget that it even exists. That is so embarrassing. That is so unreal that I even have a song with R. Kelly. That’s so embarrassing."

Tinashe Calls Working w/ R. Kelly "Embarrassing"www.youtube.com

Let's Be Real Nowwww.youtube.com

The artist shared that due to her age at the time of recording, she wasn’t given much of a say by her record label. "I was so young too, which is crazy because I feel like I did that song when I just signed to that label… I was probably like 20,” she continued.

Also in 2015, she released “Player” with Chris Brown, however the two got into a falling out, with Brown calling Kachingwe a “16-year-old hobbit face ass” on Instagram the following year. At the time, Brown seemed to throw shade towards Kachingwe for not supporting his ruthless comments towards Kehlani during the singer’s suicide attempt.

Tinashe - Player ft. Chris Brownyoutu.be

“That was a song that we all wanted it to be this big moment, this big single," Kachingwe told Sang. "So I feel like, in their mind, they were like, ‘You need the support.’ [Brown] was their biggest artist that they had on rhythmic radio at the time. To me, I was like, ‘Well, this is a pop song. So, I really don’t feel like we should put Chris on it.’ That doesn’t compute to me, but I don’t know.”

Last week, Kachingwe released her sixth studio album BB/Ang3l, also her third independently-released album, following 2021’s 333 and 2019’s Songs for You.