POPSTAR, Tinashe’s eighth studio album, arrives on Sept. 25 via Nice Life, Atlantic and Tinashe Music, and it spans 16 tracks across 40 minutes, moving between hyperpop, R&B, dance, jazz, new age, bedroom pop and a touch of country. The record answers a question that has followed Black women in pop for decades: who gets to be a popstar?
Billboard’s ranking puts every track on the album in order from worst to best, and it shows a record that matches its subject’s restlessness. POPSTAR is sneaky, sarcastic and gloriously sassy, yet Tinashe commits to it fully — unlike many of her contemporaries, she backs up the attitude with real craft.
The Artwork That Provoked Fans
Fans have taken issue with the artwork, and that reaction itself is the point. The cover presents Tinashe with headphones on, gazing off into the distance with an intentionally plain look rather than glamour. Her expression rests somewhere between awe, bewilderment, determination and wonder, while the stars in her eyes stand for the dizzying allure of pop stardom and the headphones recall her production skills.
“It’s the portrait of a pop star who’s been grinding for years to dismantle and redefine pop stardom in her own image,” the ranking reads.
A Catalog Built on Influence
For over ten years, Tinashe has helped define what global pop sounds like. Her 2016 “Superlove” music video set a standard for late-2010s K-Pop visuals, while the artwork for 2019’s Songs for You gave early-2020s pop releases a whole new look to copy. During the Quantum Baby era, she took that influence and made it into hits: “Nasty” climbed to No. 61, riding a viral dance trend, and “No Broke Boys” rose to No. 36, carried by a Disco Lines remix that ruled EDM clubs and festivals last summer.
“There’s a lot of attention, there’s a lot of discussion,” she told Rolling Stone in a profile ahead of POPSTAR’s release. “People are ready for it, which is a new feeling.”
The Ranking Opens With Two Tracks
The ranking opens with two tracks, and the source only ranks them individually, not their placement relative to the rest of the album. “The Show Must Go On” is a smart, cheeky 19-second interlude that literally interrupts Tinashe’s self-reflection with an ever-intensifying chant of “popstar, popstar, popstar.” “Pillow Fight” follows, bringing Tinashe back to the bedroom with cooing about how she can go “round after round” and “take you down to the ground before you tap out.” It is definitely one of the project’s frothier cuts, but those moments of sensual levity keep things in balance.
“Cloud 9” is the penultimate track, and it is the rare moment where the album veers into feeling over substance. Reminiscent of Charli XCX’s mixtape era, the hyperpop-infused cut is the rare moment where the album veers into feeling over substance. Tinashe is evidently on “Cloud 9,” and the euphoric production reinforces that, but she never specifies the “something” she is “finally” feeling. Presumably, it is the connection and good sex she alludes to in the first verse and bridge, but “Cloud 9” mostly feels like the last random stop on the scenic route before the album’s proper closer.
The Middle Run
“Brainrot” is an edgy, electronic number that bridges the 2020s social media concept of “brainrot” (essentially, mind-numbingly stupid content) with classic debaucherous pop motifs. The opening line, “I don’t wanna die no more,” presents a pop star in touch with both her mortality and the transcendental power of a sexy, shameless night out. There may not be a more intriguing song on POPSTAR.
“Flashbacks” is a steelier, glitchier cousin to “Pillow Fight” that brings Tinashe back to the bedroom with a darker edge. It is a track that fits the album’s genre-hopping template while maintaining a darker tone than the bedroom cuts around it.
The Anchor Tracks
“Empty Stadiums” is an introspective cut that anchors the record’s loftier ambitions with disarmingly honest lyrics. “Heavy Weight” is an emotion-purging track that helps ground the album’s more ambitious sonic explorations.
The two tracks land close to the top of the ranking. The disarmingly poetic lyrics on songs such as “Empty Stadiums” or “Heavy Weight” help ground the album’s more ambitious reaches, and if a pop star is making the personal feel universal through undeniable earworm hooks, then there’s no reason to resist it.
The Legacy She Is Building
Tinashe’s POPSTAR is a deliberate record, one that knows exactly what it is doing. She draws from Janet Jackson and Britney Spears with the same ease she borrows from Santigold, Ciara and Dawn Richard, turning the personal into something universal through hooks that stick in the ear. The sequencing holds together across 40 minutes, a longer runtime than her last two projects combined.
Tinashe backs her loftier ambitions on the album’s disarming lyricism on cuts like “Empty Stadiums” and “Heavy Weight” anchors the record, and she commits to them fully.
Why This Album Matters Now
For years, the argument over who qualifies for the “popstar” title has continued. Whitney Houston was called “Whitey Houston” by Al Sharpton before she was jeered at the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. Ravyn Lenae then claimed the “pop” label for her new Blue Island era, which set off discussion across social media.
Tinashe is answering that conversation head-on. Her eighth album is a confrontational project that argues against limited views of what pop music can sound, look and feel like. She has likely drawn more attention before the album’s release than ever before, and she gave listeners a record that matches exactly what she described: a lot of attention, a lot of discussion, and people ready for it.
The Verdict on POPSTAR
The album’s restless ambition carries it across hyperpop, R&B, dance, jazz, new age, bedroom pop and country, and it never loses coherence. The sequencing stays tight throughout, while the disarming lyricism keeps the lofty ambitions grounded.
The ranking captures a record that is sneaky, sarcastic and gloriously sassy, and Tinashe commits to it without holding anything back.
Source material: “Tinashe’s ‘POPSTAR’: All 16 Tracks Ranked,” Billboard.
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