Tinashe - "Too Easy"

Tinashe and I have very different understandings of what qualifies as low effort. I consider answering an email before it requires a follow-up a productive day. She sings, dances, writes, produces, commands a stage like the rent is due and has spent the better part of her career making all of it look suspiciously uncomplicated. So when she names a song “Too Easy,” understand that we're grading on a curve.

And yes, she knows exactly what she's doing here. “Too Easy” has Tinashe in full control of the temperature, letting her voice do just enough to make the invitation perfectly clear without chasing anybody around the room with it. There's a confidence to the song that comes from knowing the attention is already yours. Why work harder than necessary?

That attitude suits her especially well because Tinashe has never needed to oversell sexy. She can make a breath sound like privileged information. “Too Easy” plays directly into that skill, giving her space to flirt, pull back and enjoy the fact that whoever she's singing to is several steps behind. You get the sense she could explain exactly what's happening, but watching them figure it out is more entertaining.

By the time “Too Easy” settles into its final stretch, the title has become less an assessment of the situation than a tiny bit of trash talk. Tinashe knows the effect. She knows the advantage. And she knows precisely how little effort is required to maintain both.