TiaCorine Releases Her Debut Album “Corinian”
North Carolina rap phenom TiaCorine releases her lyrically bold, sonically kaleidoscopic, and all-around otherworldly debut album, CORINIAN. Joined by a wild array of rap risk-takers — Flo Milli, Saweetie, Wiz Khalifa, Smino, J.I.D, Pouya — and assisted by ace producers ranging from Kenny Beats to Hit-Boy, TiaCorine explodes into new territory that’s somehow both her most experimental yet and her most inviting, warping and inverting more styles than ever before.
While no one song captures the full CORINIAN experience, “Lotion” featuring Flo Milli puts TiaCorine’s brash confidence on full display. Produced by Kenny Beats, the track is a blistering ’80s freestyle throwback complete with keyboard percussion, rubbery bass, and stuttering drums. But our heroine struts over the sweat-inducing beat with athletic ease: “Now this is how it goes for ones who don’t know / So I came from the Tre with thugs and fake hoes / Glitz, glamor, fashion, gold is all ya girl know / But I came from the bottom and chose the high road.”
“Lotion” is just one of many unpredictable swerves from the audacious star who coined “anime trap” as her sound. With CORINIAN, TiaCorine also puts her own gravitational spin on modern R&B (“Pretty” with Saweetie), hard-hitting reggaeton (“LA LA LA”), swaggering funk-rap (“Was Hannin” with Wiz), dark post-punk (“Buttercup”), and psychedelic pop (“Impossible Girl”).
Those songs and others join previously heard singles like “Backyard” featuring J.I.D, a booming cut that finds the two style-shifting Southern artists at their aggressive best, flaunting their prowess when it comes to navigating the streets and the sheets. Following the release, hnhh praised TiaCorine’s “endless supply of chaotic energy,” while the ride-or-die anthem “Fall in Love” inspired BET to write, “If you’re still sleeping on TiaCorine, it’s time to wake it up, now!”
Before that came “Ironic,” a trippy, flex-packed track that came with a fittingly far-out music video courtesy of Lyrical Lemonade; and “ATE,” a drill-meets-ballroom club cut that celebrates the fact that TiaCorine is eating while her rivals struggle to keep up. That one also came with a distinct video version that includes vogue performances and musical contributions from Jus10 and Byrell The Great — watch HERE. She also shared the prismatic “Different Color Stones.”
As TiaCorine explains, CORINIAN is the third release in a trilogy that includes her 2022 debut album I Can’t Wait and 2024’s Almost There EP: “If you pay attention to the artwork of the projects, you can see a pink aura in the background,” she says, referring to what looks like a futuristic city that gets closer with each release. “That place is everything Tia wanted to be. Now I’m here. There’s no fear. No doubt. No second-guessing. I’ve reached my final form.”
The album release follows a series of anticipation-building moments from TiaCorine, who is the subject of a recent glossy multi-page feature in HYPETRAK Magazine (by HYPEBEAST), and appears on Chance the Rapper’s celebrated new album via the song “Gun in Yo Purse” featuring Young Thug. She also headlined Charlotte, NC’s Durag Festival before hitting The Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash in Chicago the very next day. On October 18, she’ll perform at Atlanime Fest — dressed in cosplay, of course — in Atlanta’s Center Parc Stadium (info here).
The album arrives just weeks after TiaCorine’s breakout hit “FreakyT” attained RIAA-certified Gold status. Upon arrival in 2022, the fiery flex-fest inspired a viral dance trend and soared up the Urban Mainstream and Billboard Hip Hop/R&B charts. Her momentum grew across 2023, when she made the XXL Freshman Class and scored “Artist to Watch” nods from Rolling Stone, COMPLEX, Pigeons & Planes, Zane Lowe, Our Generation Music, and more. Cosigns from the likes of Drake and the late, great Gangsta Boo followed, as did festival appearances including Dreamville, Rolling Loud, and Coachella, and — last year — TiaCorine’s first headlining tour.