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Have you ever noticed how human taste favors the mundane? We can have the variety of an exotic buffet at our disposal, but it’s the comfort food we reach for. The safety of familiarity. Your mom’s mac and cheese. Your tried and true road trip songs or well worn hits that you’ve been playing on repeat for the last 10 years.

If you’re hoping Tia Corine is another artist who will indulge this audio umami that soothes your palate, guess again. With her debut EP 34Corine, she announces to the world that she’s not here to oblige our wants for predictability. She won’t be boxed into the obviously savory or sweet categories that some people seem to think a black female artist ought to live within. What she sounds like, looks like and says are all very much her own.  

Tia hails from the Winston-Salem region of North Carolina, the 34 in the EP’s title is a nod to the area’s slang nickname. This is a world where musical innovation is ripe with nuance and it shows in her debut release which takes themes from trap-pop to sultry R&B and churns them into a salted butter perfect for spreading over sunny day playlists. The people in the area who have been championing her work since the beginning are what drove her creativity for this EP. “The inspiration for this project is really my fans,” she said.

The glitter-filled, colorful lane that Tia is paving is one I presume will change with her interests and influences, but the architecture is there for a joyful journey that we will all be paying attention to. The diversity of this debut, from its viral track “Lotto” to the swagger affirmation filled “Mine,” is a clear precursor of Tia’s multiple ambitions. “I'm trying to show people how versatile I am and bring them into Tia's world, I want to show everyone something different,” she said.

Nothing mundane about this debut, and I know if you are tired of the same old music comfort foods, Tia is the sonic feast you’ve been waiting for.