Tinashe – ‘Popstar’ review: multi-faceted and effortlessly assured proclamation of self-worth

When Tinashe released ‘Too Easy’, the lead single of her eighth studio album ‘Popstar’, the internet was lit aflame, hallmarking and revisiting the 33-year-old’s continued influence on other artists, particularly K-pop’s moodboards, visuals and wider discographies. But Tinashe’s impact spans much further; she also helped to spawn the alt-R&B renaissance of the 2010s – alongside peers including Jhené Aiko, The Weeknd and Miguel – and recent singles like ‘Crash Out’ re-centred a signature brand of west coast bounce and trap that leaps out across her discography (see 2020’s ‘Hopscotch’). Fundamentally, the singer has always been an all-encompassing pop and wider musical reference. READ MORE: Spellbinding singer-songwriter Nomi. is finding her own frequency On ‘Popstar’, Tinashe silences the chatter, refusing to play into any debate surrounding her worth. Instead, she uses the record to embrace and hold space for multifaceted stardom and womanhood. “Blacked out sunglasses / nothing else in the world even matters”, she hisses on album opener ‘Sunglasses’. “Speakers so loud / Music my religion”. A deliberately busy, instrumental-heavy soundscape is quelled by ghoulishly pitched vocal...