Most new pop music sounds like it was made by a committee, for a committee. It’s pre-packaged, shrink-wrapped, and about as rebellious as a pair of new white sneakers. It’s got no soul.
And then, Tina Win comes crashing through the speakers.
Sure, look at the press photo and you’ll see the Cosmo and Allure intern, the Fashion Week hustle, the high-gloss image. She’s got the look. But put the needle on the record (or, y’know, hit play) and you get the grit. This debut EP is a three-song, nine-minute blast that proves this Romanian-born adoptee didn’t just study fashion—she studied survival.
The EP, already getting ink in mags that matter, isn’t just a “hello.” It’s a warning shot.
It kicks off with “Try Anything,” and man, this thing is built for the charts. Producer Joey Auch gives it that big-money polish. The beat is a tight, undeniable club-filler. It’s slick, it’s shiny, and it’s pure, uncut swagger. Win’s vocal slinks and sneers right through it. This isn’t a “maybe,” it’s the sound of a dare you know you’re going to take. It’s the perfect radio tune, and that’s exactly what she wants you to think.
Because then she hits you with “Wallflower.”
The lights go down, the vibe gets sticky, and suddenly we’re not in the club. We’re in a high-school bathroom, reading the graffiti on the stall. This is the EP’s soft underbelly, a track that bleeds all over the clean production. It’s about high-school rumors, feeling seen but not known, and screaming inside while you’re just trying to get to third period. It’s the track that proves the “Try Anything” confidence wasn’t faked – it was earned.
She closes the set with “One Night Renegade,” and this is where the two sides slam together. It’s a full-on story, a grainy, Super 8 movie of a prom night gone right-off-the-rails. It’s got the bruised heart of “Wallflower” but the windows-down, rock-and-roll energy of a getaway car. It’s a fist-pumping slice of pop-rock nostalgia, a perfect end-credits anthem for a teen movie that was actually good.
In nine minutes, Tina Win gives you a banger, a confession, and a movie. The production is tighter than a drum, built to be blasted from a car stereo. And that’s the most punk-rock thing about it.
Tina Win is certainly playing a different game. As the boss of her own Tina Win Music LLC, she’s not just an artist, but an executive. And the EP? It’s a business plan with a distortion pedal. Sure, she isn’t just trying to be a star. She’s planning a hostile takeover.
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