Tink (musician)

Tink's career officially began with the release of her 2011's mixtape, Winter's Diary, while she was still in high school under Lyrical Eyes Management.[13] In 2012, she followed that up with two more mixtape releases Alter Ego and Blunts & Ballads.[14][15] In 2013, she released her fourth mixtape, Boss Up, and she was featured on Future Brown's debut single "Wanna Party".[16] In 2013, the buzz surrounding her mixtape releases and her collaboration with Future Brown, which led her to have a meeting with record executives in Los Angeles. At the time, Tink noted that she was comfortable staying independent.[14]

Tink's next mixtape, Winter's Diary 2: Forever Yours, which was named the eighth-best R&B album of 2014 by Rolling Stone and the ninth-best R&B album of 2014 by Billboard.[2][3] In 2014, Tink performed alongside Sleigh Bells at South by Southwest (SXSW), and the acts released a joint single, "That Did It," on the same year.[17] She also collaborated with Kelela on a song, titled "Want It" and collaborated with Jeremih on a song, titled "Don't Tell Nobody".[18] In October 2014, Tink signed a deal with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group, an imprint of Epic Records. Tink appeared in the Worldstar Hip Hop documentary showcasing Chicago's burgeoning Hip Hop scene entitled "The Field: Chicago" in January 2014.

Her debut studio album had been scheduled to be released in 2015[5][19] and was preceded by the single "Ratchet Commandments".[20][21] Timbaland made headlines in 2015 by indicating at SXSW that Aaliyah had appeared to him and described Tink as "the one." Tink would later perform an unreleased track that samples Aaliyah's "One in a Million".[22] In April 2015, the unreleased track, now entitled "Million", was released.[23]

Epic scheduled a July 2015 release for Think Tink but Timbaland decided to delay the project. "The album was actually finished. There was an intro, I had interludes." Tink told the FADER in February 2018. "It was [Timbaland's] call to hold back on it, and I think, I want to say, for the benefit of the doubt, he did want to perfect it. But it was Tim's call not to put it out."[24] Frustrated by Mosley and Epic's resistance to letting her share new material with her fans, Tink returned to the formula that had initially earned her a loyal following, and released her third mixtape in the Winter's Diary series called Winter's Diary 3[25] which featured one of her most famous songs to date named "I Like".

In 2016, Tink released several tracks throughout the beginning of the year and dropped her seventh mixtape named Winter's Diary 4. The mixtape was mentioned on Rolling Stone's "40 Best Rap Albums of 2016" and ended up on number 20.

In 2017, Tink released few songs and had a six month long social media break, the reason for which would later become clear. In a February 2017 interview, Tink told DJ Vlad that she hadn't spoken to Timbaland in three months and said that the ball was still in his court when it came to releasing Think Tink. That spring, she began to seek a permanent solution that would get her out of her contract with Mosley, eventually reaching an agreement with the label at the end of the year with the rights to her unreleased music. Tink is now an independent artist. She does not have any interest in releasing any of her songs with Timbaland as she wants to start from scratch.[24]

In January 2018, Tink's mixtape catalog appeared on all streaming services. After leaving Mosley Music Group and Epic Records, Tink released her first EP Pain & Pleasure in March 2018 through Machine Entertainment Group and Sony RED.

On April 28, 2019, Tink released the mixtape Voicemails, under Empire. The lead single was Bad Side.

Tink released the album Hopeless Romantic through Winter's Diary and Empire on February 14, 2020.[26]

Tink released the second album Heat of the Moment on July 30, 2021, which was executive produced by Hitmaka.[27]