"Pretend" is a song by American singer

Tinashe Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe ( ; born February 6, 1993), known mononymously as Tinashe, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Pasadena, California, as a child, where she pursued w ...

. It was released as her second single from her debut album '' Aquarius.'' The song, which was produced by producer Detail, features a guest verse from Harlem-based rapper

ASAP Rocky Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a member of the hip hop music, hip hop coll ...

Composition

In an interview with ''

Rap-Up ''Rap-Up'' is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine. The publication was originally a website devoted to hip hop, until Lazerine decided to pitch the possibility of a magazine to several publishers. The magazine is focused on the ...

'', Tinashe talked about the concept behind the song. She said "The song with Rocky is definitely kind of a contemporary-sounding song, it doesn’t really sound like a lot of other songs on the radio, but it’s a midtempo feel and it’s kinda minimalistic in the track." And when speaking about the song's meaning, she said, ""Pretend" is basically about when you're in a relationship and instead of dealing with the stuff that you deal with in a relationship, you don't want to do that. You're just going to pretend that everything is fine. I think a lot of people can relate." "Pretend" is a pop song written by Tinashe, Lyrica Anderson and ASAP Rocky and was produced by Detail.

Release and critical reception

"Pretend" premiered on August 22, 2014 online. ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' editor Gregory Adams complimented the singers vocals saying "Her voice builds up to an emotional cry in the chorus, which finds her praising the concept of "a love that never ends." Chris DeVille from ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' was less vocal about ASAP Rocky's appearance on the song but praised Tinashe by saying "her performance is the showstopper here."

Music video

The song's official music video, directed by Jodeb, was shot on August 19, 2014 and released on September 29, 2014.

Credits and personnel

;Recording locations *

's vocals mixed at Larrabee Sound Studios,

North Hollywood, Los Angeles North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ...

's vocals recorded and mixed at Clockwork Studios, Los Angeles *Mastered at The Mastering Palace, New York City ;Personnel *Tinashe – songwriter, lead vocals *ASAP Rocky – songwriter, guest vocals * Detail – songwriter, producer *The Order – songwriter, producer *

Lyrica Anderson Lyrica Nasha Anderson is an American R&B singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of singer and former Ikette Lyrica Garrett. Anderson has appeared on the VH1 reality show '' Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood''. Career In 2009, Anderson co-wrote the ...

– songwriter *

Héctor el Father Héctor Luis Delgado Román (born September 4, 1979), also known by his stage name Héctor el Father, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and pastor. He rose to fame as a member of the duo Héctor & Tito Los Bambinos. ...

–

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

, mixing *Geebizzy – recording assistant, mixing assistant *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is an American audio engineer based in California. He won three Grammy Awards: the first for mixing ''Growing Pains'' for Mary J. Blige in 2007, followed by '' El mal querer'' for Rosalía in 2018, and ''Hyperspace'' for Beck in ...

– mixing *Ryan Kaul – mixing assistant *Maddox Chimm – mixing assistant *Contains a sample from "Action", as performed by Orange Krush *Dave Kutch – mastering Credits adapted from the liner notes of '' Aquarius''.

Track listing

*Digital download #"Pretend" (featuring

) – 3:52 *Digital download #"Pretend Remix" (featuring

Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. He is credited, alongside fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music for ...

) – 4:16 *Digital download #"Pretend" (

Dave Audé Dave Audé () is an American DJ, producer and remixer. He operates his own label Audacious Records, and is known for having more number ones than any other producer on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. He has done production for artists ...

Remix) – 3:40

Charts

Release history

References

{{ASAP Rocky singles 2014 songs 2014 singles ASAP Rocky songs Songs written by ASAP Rocky RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Detail (record producer) Songs written by Lyrica Anderson Tinashe songs Songs written by Tinashe Songs written by Detail (record producer) Songs written by Dre Moon