The Singles Jukebox

A new kind of problem…

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[7.12]

Crystal Leww: Set over nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a simple little beat that comes and goes, Tink cracks and growls as she reflects on what she wants in a relationship. The usual qualifiers having to do with her age are boring; how many artists do you know at any age have come up with something as concise, simple, and poignant as the plea to “treat me like somebody”? Her vocal performance is quiet and nuanced: the growl on the “can’t” in “I can’t be the only one” that is fleeting anger before returning to sad; the build on the repetition of “wrong” that is mournful rather than regretful; the way that “muchhhhhhh” flies off into infinity as if she doesn’t want to know the answer to whether or not asking for a little bit of basic respect is too difficult to ask for. This is how you do Aaliyah-wave correctly.
[9]

Alex Ostroff: There are shades of Aaliyah’s “Miss You” in the guitar, but the trills are more halting and hesitant, to match Tink’s longing for someone she has yet to find, which grows in confidence through thoughtful, meandering verses to the deceptively simple demands of the chorus. The second verse is a masterclass in writing, as Tink delivers a verse that maintains an emotional arc even as its structure repeatedly morphs from a gentle descent to emphatic “wrong”s and the gut punch of one thing vs. something before the pre-chorus anchors us again.
[9]

Alfred Soto: Her sweet non-voice adduces the title plea, and the plucked guitars and multitracked vocals succeed in turning her into somebody. When she raps, though, she’s not anybody.
[5]

Anthony Easton: The problem is not, that is this too much, but that this is not quite enough. 
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: The song’s small because it has to be; a grand pummeling epic about just wanting to be treated with human dignity is a song in need of writing (find me one; prove me wrong), but these pleasingly plaintive ditties need love too. It helps that Tink sounds like herself, not some vaguely disreputable male gaze’s version of such. You know what it reminds me of? Amanda Perez’s “Angel” — god, would that even chart today?
[7]

Brad Shoup: This reminds me of Frank Ocean, but more direct, more playful, more introspective than just interior. Her vocal sustain’s pretty, too.
[7]

David Sheffieck: Like Angel Haze and Nicki, Tink is a multi-faceted threat, a rapper who’s also a singer. This is as skillful and strong as anything on Boss Up, but it inhabits a world different enough it might as well have come from another artist. It didn’t, and that breadth could easily make it seem like an indication she’s still figuring out where she fits as an artist. But the assurance of “Treat Me Like Somebody” argues otherwise: Tink looks at the list of genre and persona options and checks D) All of the above.
[7]

Patrick St. Michel: There are at least three documentaries and who knows how many stories about Chicago’s drill scene, the majority of them also spending significant amounts of time focusing on the cities gangs and murder rate. This context is important, but as someone approaching this music a great distance away from where it’s all happening, it often feels like the sites covering it are approaching it all a bit too one dimensionally. “Treat Me Like Somebody” is a nice reminder that the music coming out of this corner of the world covers a lot more material. Tink delivers a straightforward but sweet bit of longing, taking place in “a world so cold” but ultimately zeroing in on post-breakup blues, delivered over a minimal soundtrack. A lovely R&B song that probably won’t pop up in any “Chiraq” videos, but worth your time all the same.  
[7]