Tink

Tink stands out as a forthright vocalist and MC whose compositions cut straight to the point. Hailing from the Chicago region, this Illinois native first drew widespread attention in her teens during the early 2010s through a string of mixtapes, beginning with the opening entries in the widely praised Winter’s Diary sequence. Those projects earned her a place in XXL’s Freshman Class of 2015 and a recording agreement with Timbaland’s imprint. Though the partnership stalled—leaving the finished album Think Tink unreleased—Tink advanced on her own, issuing charting works such as Pain & Pleasure (2018) and Thanks 4 Nothing (2023). During this stretch, “Cut It Out” and “Bottom Bitch” each secured RIAA gold status, paving the way for her return to the charts with Winter’s Diary 5 (2024), a candid, many-sided look at relationships from her singular vantage.

Born Trinity Laure’Ale Home in Calumet City, Illinois, about twenty miles south of Chicago, Tink sang in church as a child and began writing songs at age twelve. While still a teenager she issued her earliest mixtapes, most of which she crafted and tracked with her father, who handled engineering duties in their basement studio. Four tapes surfaced across 2012 and 2013, launched by the debut volume of the Winter’s Diary series. Winter’s Diary 2 arrived in 2014, spotlighting the yearning ballad “Treat Me Like Somebody.” Before the year ended, Tink had appeared on recordings by Future Brown, Sleigh Bells, Jeremih, Kelela, DJ Dahi, and Timbaland.

An agreement with Timbaland’s Epic-backed Mosley Music Group produced several singles in 2015, the same year XXL included Tink in its annual Freshman Class feature. One of those tracks, “Million”—a reworking of Aaliyah’s “One in a Million”—reached number 38 on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart. Volumes three and four of Winter’s Diary followed in 2015 and 2016, yet Timbaland held Think Tink back, triggering extended contract talks. Once she secured full creative control, Tink resurfaced in 2018 with the Pain & Pleasure EP, which debuted at number 147 on the Billboard 200.

After signing a fresh distribution arrangement, Tink closed out 2020 by adding the mixtape Voicemails, the album Hopeless Romantic, and the EP A Gift and a Curse to her catalog. Hopeless Romantic became her first Billboard 200 entry, peaking at number 99, and yielded her initial gold single, the spare ballad “Cut It Out.” The forceful, emotionally charged “Bottom Bitch,” drawn from A Gift and a Curse, later earned gold certification as well. Heat of the Moment, executive-produced by Hitmaka, landed in 2021 and climbed to number 54, buoyed by the singles “Selfish” with Yung Bleu and “Rebel” with Jeremih.

Keeping to an annual release cadence, Tink delivered Pillow Talk in 2022, a number 43-charting set whose tracks—including the 2 Chainz-assisted “Cater”—quickly amassed millions of streams. Six months later she followed with Thanks 4 Nothing, her fourth straight project to reach the Billboard 200. Again collaborating closely with Hitmaka, Tink shaped the album for post-breakup listening, limiting guest appearances to Ty Dolla $ign and Yung Bleu. Winter’s Diary 5, the fifth chapter in her long-running series and her fifth full-length overall, arrived in July 2024 and landed at number 140 on the Billboard 200. Among its standouts were the sweetly sung yet pointed ballad “Charged Up” and the Summer Walker collaboration “Songs About U.”