Tinashe – Popstar (2026)
- Release Date: September 25th, 2026
- Genres: Alternative R&B, post-dubstep, pop rap, alt-pop, UK bass, electropop
- Tracklisting:
- 01 – Sunglasses
- 02 – Too Easy
- 03 – Melatonin
- 04 – Empty Stadium
- 05 – Flashbacks
- 06 – Overdramatic
- 07 – I’d Rather Be Alone
- 08 – Crash Out
- 09 – Pillow Fight
- 10 – Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore
- 11 – Twentyfive Eight
- 12 – The Show Must Go On
- 13 – Popstar
- 14 – Brainrot
- 15 – Cloud 9
- 16 – Heavy Weight
Tinashe on What It Means to Be a Pop Star
“Popstar” is Tinashe’s eight studio album and is the final release in her recent “trilogy” of albums (following BB/Ang3l in 2023 and Quantum Baby in 2024). Additionally, Popstar is Tinashe’s first album release since the Quantum Baby single “Nasty” achieved immense TikTok virality, which placed her on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in her career. Appropriately themed with her rising popularity, Tinashe tackles her personal idea of what it means to be and what it’s like to be a pop star on the aptly-titled album. Through her lyricism, tracks on Popstar dissect the experiences of a pop celebrity, acknowledging both the extreme glamour and fame of stardom and the increasingly surveilled, judgmental atmosphere that comes with it. The cover art was viewed as controversial by fans, though it excels at its goal of centering a popstar – uncomfortably close yet distant at the same time, with stars in her eyes.
Accordingly, the album stylistically explores different genres pop stars excel in: pop, R&B, dance, hip-hop, and EDM. The candid, honest, raw approach to stardom has proved to be an effective approach to lyricism in recent years, which Tinashe approaches from a sassy, playful, yet introspective angle. Furthermore, Tinashe’s experimentation across various styles of pop and electronic music has worked in her favor. The album’s stacked production credits include electronic legends Machinedrum and Arca, R&B masters Ricky Reed and Illangelo, and upcoming producers kimj, who specializes in brostep, and Nightfeelings, who specializes in synthpop. So far, acclaim for the album, both critically and from fans, point towards Popstar becoming one of Tinashe’s best releases throughout her career.
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