When Did Tana Get Good?

– Written by Charlotte Holder –

Lately online I’ve seen immense amounts of discourse surrounding underground artist “tana” previously known as “babysantana”, this discourse has pertained greatly to his evolution as an artist and undeniably better image within the scene however for myself personally I truly don’t ever think tana was bad. I strongly believe that this perception of tana is molded by hate culture within the scene. Granted, as an artist, hate is something one should expect, in my own observation the underground is absolutely rampant with hate because of how “easy” it is to blow up in this scene. Terms like corny and new gen get tossed around and attached to artists and it can truly hinder a listener’s experience with that artist even if the talent has literally always been there and I find tana to be a prime example of this. 

I’ve been listening to tana since the pandemic when I discovered their music through the song “Dreamin Of” on soundcloud, obviously music is subjective and everybody is entitled to their own opinion however I distinctly remember when voicing my enjoyment of tana at the time essentially being like crucified for having this take however looking back on it i’m seeing an abundance of people reminiscent on what was a lot of peoples introduction to the underground via “AntiSocial” featuring slump 6s. Even then it was evident tana had this natural knack for music production at literally fourteen years old so it’s not shocking that now many have come around to give tana his flowers. I remember after discovering tana online, when we eventually moved out of lockdown in Toronto I was able to see tana for the first time when he alongside Yung Chrxs opened for Lil Tecca on the “Tecca Loves You” Tour. this was my first show out of quarantine and I think that while tana was still young in his career at the time his stage presence was crazy and I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see him again at the First Class Fest x Skip the Boat event in February that showed me he had only grown into and bettered his stage presence.

Tana’s evolution as an artist in the underground scene is a crazy example of how artists can develop a distinct identity over time. It’s clear that he’s been meticulously crafting and refining his own unique image. Tana, while receiving insane amounts of backlash and odd criticisms of his uniqueness online, has never let it impact the quality of work he puts out. Tana’s experimentation with sound, aesthetic, and public persona has helped to make his music increasingly better but also helped him connect to his audience because he is authentically himself and you really get a feel for that when you look at his work, i mean he has one of the most insane unreleased catalogs ive ever seen. Taking that into consideration you can really tell he isn’t just looking to put out whatever unreleased music pops off on tiktok which I feel is so common as a listener in the scene but rather he puts out projects that he’s genuinely proud of, and they consistently still just work seamlessly. Tana’s progression in the underground scene reflects his ability to navigate and innovate within the space, gradually defining himself in ways that set him apart from others.

I think that in a scene like the underground it can be so incredibly hard to find your own lane and put out music you as an artist are genuinely proud of as opposed to releasing music that pleases the audience on tiktok, not to say that tiktok isnt a great tool for artists to use but the oversaturation of one type of content or music style on there is exhausting even if the song isn’t necessarily bad. In my opinion tana has remained immune to the tiktok effect and I think that’s why I carry so much respect for him as both an artist and performer. I could go on and on about how I feel about tana but I want to leave off on the note that, Tana was always good, the communities just full of hating losers who’d rather eat up oversaturated content and music from their faves rather than looking “corny”.  Literally any and everything could be considered corny so who really cares that much?