Tiara Thomas

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title: "Tiara Thomas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1989-births", "living-people", "21st-century-american-singer-songwriters", "21st-century-american-women-singers", "african-american-christians", "african-american-women-singer-songwriters", "20th-century-african-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-singers", "american-women-singer-songwriters", "american-contemporary-r&b-singers", "grammy-award-winners", "interscope-records-artists", "musicians-from-indianapolis", "best-original-song-academy-award–winning-songwriters", "21st-century-african-american-women-singers", "singer-songwriters-from-indiana"] description: "American R&B singer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiara_Thomas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American R&B singer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Tiara Thomas
image	Tiara Thomas - Broccoli City Festival D.C. - April 25, 2015(cropped).jpg
caption	Thomas in 2015
birth_name	Tiara Nicole Thomas
birth_date
birth_place	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
education	Ball State University (BS)
genre
occupation
years_active	2009–present
label
website
::

| name = Tiara Thomas | image = Tiara Thomas - Broccoli City Festival D.C. - April 25, 2015(cropped).jpg | caption = Thomas in 2015 | birth_name = Tiara Nicole Thomas | birth_date = | birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |education = Ball State University (BS)

| genre = | occupation = | years_active = 2009–present | label = | website =

Tiara Nicole Thomas (born September 12, 1989) is an American R&B singer. She is best known for her guest appearance on Wale's 2013 single "Bad", which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and received triple platinum certification by the RIAA. That same year, Thomas signed with Rico Love's Division1 record label, an imprint of Interscope Records.

Thomas won Song of the Year at the 2021 Grammy Awards for co-writing H.E.R.'s song "I Can't Breathe". That same year, she received a Golden Globe nomination and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, for co-writing the song "Fight for You", from Judas and the Black Messiah.

Early life

Thomas was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her parents encouraged her to pursue music. Thomas performed in school and church. She attended Lawrence North High School. A hardcore fan of hip hop and pop music, Thomas developed her sound early and set out to carve her own lane in music by fusing her love for pop and alternative music, ballads, and rap with instrumentation. In June 2012, Thomas graduated from Ball State University.

Career

2009–2012: Early career

Thomas met founders of The Board Administration, Wale and Le'Greg O. Harrison, in a club in Atlanta, Georgia, during a Wale concert in 2009. After exchanging information and submitting music, she received a response and positive feedback after three months. Shortly thereafter, she traveled to New York City where she opened for Wale and shared the stage with Diggy Simmons, J. Cole, and Fabolous at the Highline Ballroom. Thomas signed to The Board Administration in 2011.

She is well known for viral promotions via Twitter and YouTube and recognized for new online musical content, live performance streams, and cover performances of popular music. On August 3, 2010, the world was introduced to Thomas on "The Cloud" with Wale through his mixtape More About Nothing. Her name trended worldwide on May 30, 2011, on Twitter, the day "The Cloud" video released.

Thomas was selected as a 2011–2012 Campaign Spokesperson for the American Eagle Outfitters Back to School We The People Campaign. Her likeness is canvassed in New York City's Times Square at the American Eagle Outfitters flagship Store Location and across the continental U.S. in all 900+ stores worldwide. Her original songs for the campaign, "Denim" and "Wassup", are featured on the American Eagle Outfitters website and were circulated to the masses through their social media campaign.

2013–present: "Bad", ''Dear Sallie Mae'', and debut album

Thomas worked on her debut LP Sallie Mae, and was featured on Wale's single "Bad". The latter peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her first Hot 100 and top 40 entry. In June 2013, it was announced she had left Wale's record label The Board Administration to sign with Rico Love's Division 1 record label in a joint deal with Interscope Geffen A&M.

Thomas released a five-song EP titled Dear Sallie Mae on October 8, 2013.

Discography

• Dear Sallie Mae (EP) (2013)
• The Bad Influence (2014)
• Up in Smoke (EP) (2015)
• Don't Mention My Name (EP) (2017)
• FWMM (EP) (2018)

As lead artist

::data[format=table title="List of singles, showing year released"]

Title	Year	"One Night"
2014
::

As featured artist

::data[format=table title="List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name"] | Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | US | US R&B | US Rap | "Bad" (Wale featuring Tiara Thomas or Rihanna) | "Another Day" (Fat Joe featuring Rick Ross, French Montana and Tiara Thomas) | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | 2013 | 21 | 5 | 3 | | The Gifted | | | | | | | 2014 | — | — | — | | | | | | | | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | | | | | | | | | | ::

References

References

1. Godfrey, Sarah. (June 6, 2011). "Tiara Thomas on collaborating with Wale and breaking out of Muncie, Indiana".
2. (May 25, 2011). "Wale featuring Tiara Thomas – The Cloud". YouTube.
3. "H.E.R. Wins 2021 Song of the Year Grammy, Urges to 'Keep Same Energy' from George Floyd Protests".
4. "Leslie Odom Jr., Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross & More Oscar Music Nominee Newsmakers".
5. (March 3, 2021). "Golden Globes 2021: Complete list of winners and nominees".
6. David, Lindquist. (March 17, 2015). "Look and listen for these 10 Hoosier acts at SXSW". [[The Indianapolis Star]].
7. "S.O.M. INTERVIEW: Tiara Thomas- "Nothing Like The Rest"".
8. "Ball Bearings Magazine".
9. "Concert Recap: Wale at Highline Ballroom".
10. Godfrey, Sarah. (October 13, 2010). "The Board Administration with Fat Trel, Black Cobain, Wale, and UCB: TBD setlist".
11. (October 10, 2011). "JOIN ME THIS WEEK – (10/11) The Talented 3.0 presents Tiara Thomas and Andy Suzuki and The Method". The Pink Line Project.
12. Shoger, Scott. (September 7, 2011). "Tiara Thomas: All around the world | Profiles | NUVO News | Indianapolis, IN".
13. [http://indyhiphop.com/whats-hot/mphelps/wale-%E2%80%93-the-cloud-feat-tiara-thomas-video/]{{dead link. (July 2014)
14. "Tiara Thomas".
15. "The Source – Video: Wale ft. Tiara Thomas".
16. Godfrey, Sarah. (June 14, 2011). "Tiara Thomas: Singer/rapper/guitarist and pitchwoman".
17. "American Eagle Outfitters :: Wassup".
18. "iTunes Store".
19. Baker, Soren. (June 3, 2013). "Wale Collaborator Tiara Thomas Signs To Division 1/Interscope Geffen A&M | Get The Latest Hip Hop News, Rap News & Hip Hop Album Sales". HipHop DX.
20. (October 8, 2013). ["Dear Sallie Mae Explicit]: Tiara Thomas: MP3 Downloads".
21. (July 14, 2014). "Rico Love and Tiara Thomas share thoughts on her new album, 'The Bad Influence'".
22. (August 13, 2015). "Tiara Thomas Drops New EP Titled 'Up In Smoke'".
23. "Wale Album & Song Chart History". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
24. "Wale Album & Song Chart History". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
25. "Wale Album & Song Chart History". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
26. "Bad".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::