• Music

Inside the Colorful, Unpredictable World of TiaCorine

Sep 14, 2026 @ 2:22 pm By Taylor Winter Wilson

There has never been just one version of TiaCorine. The Winston-Salem native can float over a beat with a sugary melody before switching into a razor-sharp flow, step out in colorful hair, mile-long nails and full glam one day, then happily spend the next barefaced and dressed like Adam Sandler. Trying to place her neatly into one category almost misses the point. TiaCorine has spent her career turning all of her influences, contradictions and personalities into a world that could only belong to her.

Long before “Lotto” went viral or “Freaky T” introduced her unmistakable voice to an even bigger audience, Tia was sneaking into dorms to record, teaching herself how to make music in her closet and drawing inspiration from everything around her—from the hip-hop and R&B her father loved to the pop, rock and anime that would later become part of her visual language. Now, with “CORINIAN“, she’s challenging herself to bring the underground Tia and the industry Tia into the same room without sacrificing what made either one special.

For Galore, TiaCorine gets candid about the memories that keep her grounded, finding her sound, the unexpected story behind “FreakyT”, motherhood, her ever-changing approach to beauty and fashion, and why the next chapter of her career is all about creating new worlds on her own terms.

FEATURE INTERVIEW:

When you look back at your life growing up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, what’s the first memory that comes to mind? 

I always think about recess in elementary school. Every so often the P.E. teacher would bring out this huge colorful parachute thingy and we would have to get air up under it to create a huge pocket of air. We would all sit under it and take turns running to the other side. Idk why but I think about that a lot, it settles my heart and I remember dang times we’re good and I remember life isn’t so bad. It makes me giggle and remember what I’m here for…to have fun.

With you going off to college and majoring in exercise physiology, how did you end up getting into music?

Well when I went off to college for the first time, it was to become a veterinarian. It wasn’t until I left college where I took a two year break and began working at foot locker is where I realized what I really wanted to do. I was also into music before college, I’ve been doing this as a kid. It started off with casual singing along with my dad in the car, then to singing in choirs, to playing instruments which lead to me recording for the first time and that’s when I bought my own mic and taught myself how to record myself in my closet. From there I would just practice and practice. First college I attended was Tuskegee University and that’s where I started introducing myself as a rapper … after class I was sneaking into the boys dorm to record.. I got called  names for that but that didn’t stop me, I knew what I was doing.

When did you decide to take music seriously and what song of yours made people start paying attention to you?

I decided to take music seriously the night of my first talent show. I got a random glimpse of my future and I told my dad that this is what I want to do, I am going to be a singer and he supported me right then and there. The song that caught peoples attention was “cabbage”, it’s literally a Winston classic if you know you know type of thing. People heard that and was like whoa okay you have a cool voice, your flow is different, I want to hear more.

In your opinion, what made “Lotto” so popular 7 years ago? Were you expecting this song to blow up?

I think what made “Lotto” popular was the beat and the way I sung on it. It was catchy almost like a lullaby.. it was a different sound at that time. Also TikTok just came out and someone made a video to my song and it went viral literally within a week of the video being made.

Paired with my city supporting me, my local radio station 102jamz started playing it and it became apart of the daily rotation. I did not expect it to blow up and was so thrown off, I had no idea what to do but I just embraced it and started performing it everywhere.

There’s mainstream rap music and then there’s TiaCorine’s sound – which seems to be a mixture of trap, pop, rock with your own unique touch. What influenced your sound?

I think what influenced my sound is what my parents played around the house. My mom played a lot of old school pop/rock while my dad played a lot of old school hip-hop/r&b. My dad was a singing machine, he would sing songs to me before bed, blast music on the way to school, and if a store was playing a song he knew he would sing aloud..he had a nice voice so we would sing together.

I have a older brother and he would play Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Dipset, Ginuwine …and my little brother would play Tyler the Creator and little weird rock bands, so I was always getting all these different sounds. At a young age, I always had a sense of who I was so I guess that’s how you can always see Tia in everything I do.

You refuse to allow your music to be put into a box and refer to your music as “Anime Trap”. Talk to us about what this means and your love for anime.

Yeah at first I called it “Anime Trap” but as I’ve grown … I wouldn’t call it that anymore. I love anime for a lot of reasons, for one I love that they fight for what they believe in no matter what. Their morals, storylines, swag and art style. There’s just so much that I feel closely related to being a regular person, but also having that super human in me where I know I’m not normal.

I’m not like everyone else and it’s that part of the anime where the character decides are they going to use their power for good or evil and I’ve always chosen to use it for good, so I’ve always felt like my life was an anime, so that’s where you get that raw, animated emotion from. It’s just me.

Let’s fast forward a few years to “Freaky T”, talk to us about the inspiration for this song and how it came about.

AH YES, “Freaky T“, so I drove to Atlanta to work with Honorable Cnote and at the time my team was like nah he’s washed up and I’m like THEEEE HONORABLE C NOTE IS WASHED UP?!? Man y’all dont know what y’all talking about, so I drove five hours to his house!

He pulls up a file and says go crazy, the second beat I played was the “Freaky T” beat. I heard like 30 seconds of it and I knew, so I pull it up and start freestyling. I was throwing shade to a bitch that was tryna act like I wasn’t it but I knew she wanted to be me lol so yeah, I was just talking shit. I was also in a toxic relationship so I was talking shit to my ex as well lol. Just a mixture of having fun and being messy. BUT everything I said was real, it was very much true.

Visually, you love full glam, long nails, colorful hair and have a futuristic, hyper-feminine, Y2K fashion style. Talk to us more about your beauty and fashion taste.

Honestly I like being barefaced and dressing like Adamn Sandler the most! That’s really my favorite look of all time, but I have all these different personalities that yearn for more, so me switching it up is me feeding that. As a kid I’ve always dressed myself so I’ve always just had a sense of fashion that was “weird’ or “didn’t match” and as I grew I just leaned more into it. So now when I perform or show up people always look forward to my fit.

You’ve talked about how motherhood has taught you to become more loving and communicate your emotions better. As an artist, how do you balance your badass demeanor and confidence while dialing it back when needed as a mother?

The way I tried to balance it was to split up the personalities, but that caused a lot of confusion and code switching and it made me feel fake. Like I didn’t know who I was or that I didn’t fully find confidence in who I was. So I learned to mix the two by keeping it brutally honest with my kid and letting her see my life in all its totality, so she could understand me and my emotions better, which helped both of us learn how to communicate and handle each other. We’ve become closer, happier and now I don’t have to hide those difficult sides of me.

Let’s talk about your heritage because it expands beyond being a black woman. You also have Shoshone Indigenous American heritage as well as Japanese ancestry. Talk to us about how these cultures tie into your music and the characters you create.

I’m still learning about my cultures everyday, so the inspiration I use from both usually go into my looks or artworks which include shoots, videos and cover art.

Let’s get into your latest project “CORINIAN”, which features 17 songs and heavy hitting features with Wiz Khalifa, Smino and Sweetie – to name a few. What did you enjoy most about making this album?

What I enjoyed most was challenging myself to create a mixture of industry and underground Tiacorine. Getting more in touch with my emotions and working with a writer for the first time. Up until this point, I’ve always wrote everything, picked my own beats etc., but the label asked me to try working with a writer (something I was never really open to). I decided to try something new and work with Zaida on some hooks, some lyrics and background vocals on “Pretty“, “Cutting Ties” and “High Demand“.

When you’re not spending time with your baby or working on music, what’s a relaxing day look like for you?

A relaxing day for me is just doing nothing, spending some time outside in my hammock , hanging with my friends, some good food and no phone.

Ideally, how would you like to end 2026 and what are your hopes for 2027?

About The Author: Taylor Winter Wilson

Senior Editor at Galore. Made in Detroit - Living in Atlanta.