Popstar by Tinashe: A Flawless Return For Tinashe That Is Both Unknowing and Self-Aware
R&B singer-songwriter and actress Tinashe has just released her latest album “Popstar” on September 25. This album serves as a follow up to her 2024 album “Quantum Baby”. The bonus track version of “Popstar” went number one on the main US iTunes Albums Chart two weeks ago. Tinashe deserves all of this success and even more. Since her debut in the 2010’s, Tinashe has struggled to maintain people’s attention. After many record label issues, she became an independent artist in 2019. “Popstar” infuses a mix of hyper-pop, R&B, hip-hop, and dance-pop elements. It all comes together beautifully, and sounds like a dream upon first listen. Needless to say, Tinashe was HUNGRY on this project. For this review, I will explain why Tinashe has released the REAL pop encore of the year…
The “Context”
Back in 2019, Tinashe became an independent artist following being signed to RCA Records several years prior. Her first independent release was her album “Songs for You”. The album went on to receive critical success, yet no commercial success. By this point in Tinashe’s career, her biggest hit was 2014’s “2 On” featuring Schoolboy Q. Fast forwarding to 2023, Tinashe released her album “BB/ANG3L” which included the song “Needs”. This song received viral attention on TikTok, and renewed interest in Tinashe.
The “Quantum Baby” Success Factor
By 2024, Tinashe dropped her song “Nasty” which became the lead single off “Quantum Baby”. “Quantum Baby” was set to be the follow-up second part of “BB/ANG3L”. “Nasty” quickly became a smash hit, and her biggest song in over a decade. The song went on to peak at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became one of the biggest hits of the year. It also went on to become her first solo song on the Hot 100 as well. All thanks to TikTok, Tinashe was back in the main spotlight.
In mid-2025 during her promotional tour for her album “Quantum Baby”, a remix of the fourth single “No Broke Boys” was released with DJ Disco Lines. “No Broke Boys (Remix)” went on to blow up on TikTok. It quickly rose up to its peak at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song went on to amass nearly one billion streams on Spotify, and helped follow-up the success of “Nasty”. After the success of the “No Broke Boys” remix, Tinashe began rolling out the “Popstar” era. The lead single “Too Easy” was released in the early half of 2026, to critical acclaim, yet little commercial success. What had happened? Nearly two years of having hits and the new album was set to already be a failure. Follow-up singles for Popstar included “Crash Out” (a favorite of mine), “Melatonin”, and the double-single “Pillow Fight” & “I’d Rather Be Alone”.
Rolling Out the “Popstar” Era
“Popstar” was announced to be released on September 25, 2026, yet another artist surprised announced music for that same day. Taylor Swift’s deluxe version of “The Life of a Showgirl”, entitled “The Encore” was set to be released on the same day. Many fans of Tinashe viewed this as sabotage against “Popstar” and its roll-out. However, the release of the Swift’s album was critically panned and hated. Which led to Tinashe beating Swift out of the number one spot on the world-wide iTunes albums chart. Yes, talent won.
Along with the other four versions of Swift’s album, Tinashe’s other digital versions of “Popstar” also beat Swift’s album. “Popstar” went on to debut at number five on the Billboard 200. It gave Tinashe the biggest first and second week sales of her entire career. “Popstar” received a score of 91 on Metacritic, a 9.0 on Pitchfork, among many other acclaimed ratings and scores. Tinashe proved she is way more than just a singles artist, she’s an ALBUM artist on “Popstar”.
“The Best”
I could go on and on about every song off this album, however, I’ll condense my excitement and amusement down to six stand-out tracks.
“Melatonin” is the second track on “Popstar” and the third single. Musically, “Melatonin” is a fast-paced dance-pop song. This song is an ironic song, making fun of the people who “sleep” on Tinashe and her music. She says: “Bet you thought we stopped, you already know we kept it going. Getting hella coin, walking by, I see you hella pointing”. Tinashe tells her haters that even throughout her label struggles, and the way people disregarded her career for so long, that she could give them Melatonin to sleep some more. It’s definitely a top five track on the album for me.
The next standout is “Empty Stadium”. A slower song, “Empty Stadium” describes the feeling of being lonely and having anxiety about wanting fame and the fear of never connecting with a singular audience. Tinashe says “Finally almost had it. Everything that I imagined. And everyone would finally love me/ But would that ever be enough? I never lied to be accepted. Now I hope I don’t regret it. I put the work in and I waited. Don’t wanna die underrated”. This anxiety-driven track is most certainly a highlight for me. I will always love a song about an artist’s true feelings and emotions about fame.
The “Best” of the Latter Half of the Album
The third stand-out song is the third single “I’d Rather Be Alone”. Personally, I’m at a point in my life where this song is VERY fitting and relatable to me, so I was of course going to enjoy a song about getting away from love being thrown at you. An emotional R&B ballad, Tinashe describes the feeling of not waiting around for a person to change and love her right, but instead running away before it gets worse. Tinashe says: “Oh, if pain’s the price of love, then I just can’t accept it. And I don’t wanna say this, but I just gotta send it. ‘Cause, oh, I. I’d rather be alone”. This is an amazing song, and is euphoric to listen to.
Next, the fourth stand-out song is the second single “Crash Out”. A R&B-pop-dance record, Tinashe describes the feeling of not caring and how she’s about to lose it and “crash out”. She says: “Think I’m ’bout to lose it. I don’t even care no more…I’m about to crash out, every time I go outside”. This is a very fun song about wanting to lose it all because of the craziness of life. This song in fact made me a believer in this album, so of course it’s a highlight for me.
We’re down to the final two highlights from the album. The fifth song I’d like to point out is “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore”. Out of every song, apart from “Melatonin” and “Too Easy”, this song is different from the rest of the album. A dance-pop song, Tinashe describes getting the attention from boys, however she would rather just dance, since “nobody wanna dance anymore”.
Yes, I do like to bring up Britney Spears during every album review of mine (she’s the pop princess after all). However, I just cannot ignore the fact this song is very similar to “Showdown” off Spears’ 2003 album “In The Zone”, down to the production, lyric, and singing style. Tinashe says: “Between a late night and sweet romance. Can’t lie, I’d rather just dance. Ain’t my fault I got enemies”. It’s almost a sister song to “Boys” by ADELA, and Tinashe says everyone just wants to look cool, instead of just wanting to dance. This is my personal favorite off “Popstar”.
The last song I’ll talk about is the final track off the album “Heavy Weight”. The slowest ballad off the album, “Heavy Weight” describes Tinashe being emotionally exhausted about being a “burn-out” and personal family responsibilities. She says: “I been, I been holding all this heavy weight. And I don’t wanna bend until I break”. This vulnerable song hits hard personally, and is most certainly a must-listen song off this project
The “Uplifting” of Tinashe
Naturally as social media does, a trend started. Following the release of “Popstar” users on places like X and TikTok began “uplifting” Tinashe. How you “uplift” Tinashe is by streaming “Popstar” and praising it online. It started as a way to gain hype for the album, however, by the release week of “Popstar” it was almost a requirement to participate in the “Tinashe uplifting”. Many celebrities and fellow musicians participated in the trend including Charli xcx, Kim Petras, PinkPantheress, & SZA. Tinashe loved the trend and gave thanks to those who “uplifted” her, This was also how “Popstar” received so much coverage and attention upon its first week.
The “Reinvention” of Tinashe
In “Popstar”, Tinashe completely rebrands her sound and her image. She shows the world that she isn’t a throw-away one-hit-wonder artist, she’s a triple-threat to be taken seriously. She doesn’t need the fame and attention to keep making art. Rather she almost makes fun of the famous “pop star” route most singers go down. Beating out a music great like Taylor Swift on the iTunes chart shows that people don’t just appreciate art, they embrace it. Going into this album, I was eager to hear what Tinashe had to bring to the table with this album. I left the album with the feeling of gratefulness and appreciation for her as an artist
Personally, I loved “BB/ANG3L” during it’s initial release in 2023. However, that was truly the last time I loved Tinashe, until “Nasty”, and now “Popstar”. Tinashe absolutely gave everything on this project and more. It makes sense why the critics loved it so much, much more the fans as well. It’s a rare moment for pop music, truly. It almost reminds me of “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” by Slayyyter, where it could almost serve as her last album, and that would be fine. Tinashe redefines what being a “pop star” truly feels and looks like, and the pressures that come with that label.
The “Overall”
To wrap up, this has became one of the best albums of 2026 in my opinion. I loved everything Tinashe did with this project. From the stellar production, to the vulnerable lyricism, and to the rawness of it all, it’s everything and more. I hope at least one song off this project makes it big like “2 On” or “Nasty” or “No Broke Boys”. Tinashe embraces her status as someone who could be considered as a star of “yesterday” and turns it into true art. Because of this, I give “Pop Star” a 10/10. It truly deserves this ranking, and joins “PRIMA” by ADELA for my top album rankings. I can’t want to see what else Tinashe has in store for the fans, since “Pop Star” proves that she is worth way more than just fame, rather, she IS the true representation of the “pop star”, yes, pun intended.
