Draped in confidence and commanding the late-night stage, Tinashe brought her bold new era to television on September, Rolling Stone reported, delivering a high-energy medley of her tracks “Popstar” and “Melatonin” on The Tonight Show.
The singer opened the performance with an anthemic rendition of “Popstar” before amping things up with “Melatonin” alongside a group of backup dancers, Rolling Stone reported. Both tracks anchor her recent 16-track LP, Popstar, which dropped in September following her August 2024 album Quantum Baby.
That release marked part of a deliberate trilogy of albums that also includes BB/Ang3l. Tinashe initially teased the project by premiering the track “Too Easy” at Coachella.
“I wanted to create a record that felt very confident and bold in its title, in its taking up space, in its arrival, like announcing that I’m here,” Tinashe told Rolling Stone of Popstar.
“Calling the album Popstar, I felt like really claiming a spot for myself,” she added, noting that the level of confidence has generated additional conversation and pressure around the release.
The artist also addressed industry boundaries surrounding the genre. “People have a very narrow understanding of what pop means nowadays, and it’s very clean, it’s very mainstream, it’s very white, and it’s very contrived,” she told Rolling Stone.
“It’s nice to question that. There are so many people outside of that binary that do what I would consider pop, and so I’d like to bring those people into the conversation.”
Following her television showcase, Tinashe will hit the road next spring to support the album. The North American trek kicks off April 14 in Dallas and runs through May 18, concluding with three nights at Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone reported.
