Tinashe belts out in ‘Empty Stadium’ that she doesn’t want to die undervalued. Who else but Tinashe would sing that line? She has all the tools needed to be a pop star, but she has long resisted being boxed in. R&B, pop, electronic, club, hip-hop… she’s spent years devouring genres. Here it’s directly called ‘Popstar’—a signature title with a bratty edge—and it lays bare both her attitude and her insecurities. In ‘Empty Stadium’ she imagines the worst-case scenario for a pop star: arriving at the stadium only to discover there’s nobody there.
Tinashe has told Apple Music that she herself is the “glue” holding all her songs together. It sounds like a cliché, but ‘Popstar’ feels cohesive despite its variety. The productions are minimalist and economical, with lush R&B harmonies and vocals recorded in a rather dry, unembellished way, without too much atmosphere around them. The result is a very digital, clean sound, the kind of record meant to be listened to on a laptop or a phone. The songs are short and transitions near non-existent, yet the whole remains intact.
Tinashe can switch up the packaging and still land a memorable melody, thanks to a brutal ability to write R&B hooks that stick. ‘Too Easy’ turns a mini-banger of ghettotech into an incredibly catchy song thanks to a chorus that’s almost chanted; ‘Melatonin’ leans into a club-pace production with her voice turned into texture; ‘Pillow Fight’ relies on playful piano melodies. On ‘Popstar’, the variety of genres is the genre itself.
‘Sunglasses’, co-produced by Arca, opens the album with a hypnotic, avant-garde electro-R&B vibe. ‘Too Easy’ is economically spare, while ‘Empty Stadium’ blends drum’n’bass with strings and ‘Flashbacks’ experiments with the contrast between a delicate instrumental and a harsher vocal line. ‘Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore’ veers into industrial pop, samples an overlooked Lady Gaga collaboration and carries echoes of Britney Spears. The subtext of ‘Popstar’ is arguably more interesting than its actual material.
There are also more classic and familiar moments, executed with equal care. ‘Crash Out’ revisits her ratchet side with a crystalline, razor-sharp production; ‘I’d Rather Be Alone’ is classic R&B with a rock guitar and a gorgeous melody; ‘Twenty Five Eight’ glides through hypnotic R&B. It’s true that ‘Flashbacks’ nods to FKA Twigs and ‘Brainrot’ to Kelela perhaps a touch too much, but even with those references around—and Imogen Heap appearing on the title track—the focus remains Tinashe.
She has already explored synth-pop, alternative R&B, acoustic pop, electronic and club, and ‘Songs for You’ showed much of that freedom. So ‘Popstar’ isn’t a radical break with what came before. The variety lies more in the blending and in how quickly it moves from one thing to another, without each stylistic shift drawing special attention.
After the viral moments of ‘Nasty’ and the two-year chart presence of the dance remix of ‘No Broke Boys’, Tinashe arrives at ‘Popstar’ having collaborated with Charli XCX and joining the ranks of big tours as the opening act for Harry Styles. The album is released on Atlantic Records, so describing her as an independent artist no longer makes sense. Underrated? She should stop being undervalued ASAP.
‘Heavy Weight’, an acoustic emo-tinged ballad, is pretty, vulnerable and melancholic, closing the album. After wandering through stadiums, fame, sex and even TMZ, Tinashe ends in a much more bare, intimate space. It’s the sister of ‘Remember When’ and moves you in the same way.
‘Popstar’ isn’t the record where Tinashe discovers a new identity. There’s late-90s electro, classic R&B, club, industrial pop and guitars, but underneath it all there’s still a very recognizable songwriter. Her voice, its harmonies and her knack for dropping hook after hook keep the album cohesive. She can switch genres, production or reference and still make songs that latch on immediately. Brief, digital and direct, ‘Popstar’ sounds like an album made for and by this era.
