19-year old Chicago artist Tink has impressed us so far with her music. The Timbaland protege finds herself in the spotlight as she covers the February / March issue of FADER magazine. The story was written by New York Times Magazine staff writer Jenna Wortham and photographed by Ben Grieme.
Tink on how she is using music to become “a positive, realistic vision of female empowerment:
I had to cut off calling myself bitch. And I cut out some of the songs where I was kind of like degrading myself. When people do that, of course it’s seen in a fun way, but at the same time it’s sending the message to everybody else to look at you as a bitch. I want to dig deep into bad relationships, molestation, racism, and not feeling pretty. I want to get under people’s skin.
Timbaland on why he signed her:
She’s making me new to her generation. I’ve been in this game for almost 30 years, and 2015 is a new era… It’s not about me being a man, I’m a producer. Quincy was 50 years old when he made Thriller. To me, this is like making Thriller. She is real. Foolishness doesn’t sell. Feelings sell. [Tink is] still tapping into who she wants Tink to be. There were a lot of girls out there before Lauryn [Hill], but there’s only one Lauryn. There were a lot of girls out when Beyonce came out. But there’s only one Beyonce.