Tinashe Earns 9.0 Pitchfork Score for ‘Popstar’

Tinashe is earning some of the strongest critical praise of her career with her new album, Popstar.

Pitchfork awarded the singer’s eighth studio album an impressive 9.0 out of 10 in a review published Wednesday, September 30, calling the project Tinashe’s “best and bravest yet” and praising its ambition, focus and connection to the current pop landscape.

Released September 25 through Nice Life and Atlantic Records, Popstar finds Tinashe pulling from pop, R&B, electronic and dance music while exploring the increasingly complicated reality of being a modern pop artist.

The album features production from a wide-ranging group of collaborators, including Arca, Machinedrum and Kingdom, while songs such as “Crash Out,” “Sunglasses,” “Pillow Fight,” “Empty Stadium” and “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore” showcase the project’s mix of accessible pop songwriting and more experimental production.

Pitchfork particularly praised the album for maintaining Tinashe’s musical identity while pushing her sound forward, ultimately declaring Popstar the publication’s choice for “the best pop album of the year.”

The 9.0 arrives just days after another major endorsement from the publication. On September 28, Pitchfork named the album’s title track, “Popstar,” a Best New Track, describing the song as the climactic centerpiece of the record.

The acclaim marks another major moment in Tinashe’s career resurgence.

After leaving RCA Records in 2019, Tinashe spent several years operating independently and steadily rebuilding her career on her own terms. Projects including Songs for You, 333, BB/ANG3L and Quantum Baby helped establish a period of greater creative control, while the viral success of 2024’s “Nasty” introduced her music to an even wider audience.

Popstar also marks Tinashe’s first album released through a major label in eight years, following her partnership with Atlantic Records.

Rather than abandoning the experimentation that defined her independent years, the new project appears to bring those instincts into a larger pop framework — and critics are taking notice.

With a 9.0 from Pitchfork, Popstar now stands as one of the most critically celebrated releases of Tinashe’s career and a major statement from an artist whose path through the music industry has rarely followed a conventional route.

Tinashe’s Popstar is available now on streaming platforms.

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