Tinashe Says New Album Popstar Is Playful, Free and Out 25 September

Tinashe will put out her new album Popstar on Friday, 25 September. Speaking to host Alex Cooper on the 23 September episode of Call Her Daddy, she said her top rule was simple. Make a cohesive record that pulls together every side of herself.

She said she walked into the Popstar sessions with a real sense of play. She wanted the process to feel playful and free. That mood, she said, set the tone for the whole record. It was about enjoying the studio again.

The sound reflects that freedom. She described Popstar as holding dance records, hip-hop records, pop records and R&B records under one pop-star umbrella. She said she wanted the album to open up the conversation of what it means to be a pop star. The album follows her 2024 record Quantum Baby, according to Billboard.

That idea shaped the rollout as well as the music. To announce the song "Crash Out", she posted a promo clip in which she smashed a car's windows with a sledgehammer. She told Cooper she wanted to surround the release with classic pop-star tropes and act-outs. She pitched the stunt herself as a gaggy moment.

She did not want the clip to read as obvious album promotion. The hope was that people who do not follow her would see it online and wonder what was happening. The confusion was the point. She said the publicity stunt worked exactly as intended.

The conversation also turned to relationships. Tinashe said she has been caught in a few situationships, informal romances without clear commitment, over the years. She spoke about the dating patterns she is now trying to break. She kept the tone light but direct.

She also looked back to the start of her professional life. At age 14, she sang in the girl group The Stunners. The group opened for Justin Bieber. That early run taught her about being in recording studios, going on tour and navigating a professional singing career.

She still remembers the noise. She said she has probably not heard decibel levels in an arena that loud since those Bieber shows. She recalled standing in that roar and thinking, "this is where I belong."

What makes this stand out is the control behind the fun. Tinashe is presenting pop stardom as range rather than one fixed sound, and promoting it with humour rather than a hard sell. For fans, this means Friday brings a record designed to move freely across genres.