Tinashe’s Creative Process For Viral Hit, “Nasty” | How It Went Down | Billboard

In today’s episode of ‘How It Went Down,’ Tinashe reveals how she created “Nasty,” from the beat to the music video. She shares her reactions to the memes and the song’s virality, discusses whether she’s found someone to “match her freak,” and more!

Tinashe:

Hey, I’m Tinashe and this is How It Went Down for my song “Nasty.” I really wanted to create a song that was fun, that had this confident energy about it. So I thought that there was no better song than to write something that kind of came from this persona that I’ve created in my mind. Nasty Nashe is this character that I like to tap into when I’m feeling really confident and braggadocious and hot and sexy. So I wanted to write a song from that perspective, that kind of felt like that. So I thought, why not just write a song named “Nasty.” The session for “Nasty” happened over a couple of times. The first session that we did, we worked on the beat with Ricky Reed made this kind of two chord section that went from this minor chord to this major chord section, which I really loved. I took that beat home with me and just kind of started thinking about ideas. And then I was driving in my car and I was recording myself singing and vibing and free-styling on the beats. And then all of a sudden, I came up with “I’ve been a nasty girl, nasty. Is somebody gonna match my freak?” It really just felt instinctual. It was just something that kind of came to me at the time. So I listened to that recording, I took it to the studio and I was like, I think I got an idea. When I’m in the studio, I like to be comfortable. I like to be just in my zone. I don’t want too many distractions.