How Tinashe Scored the Biggest Album of Her Career With ‘Popstar’

For Tinashe , the resurgence started years ago.

The singer, songwriter, producer and DJ had first broken out in 2014, when her debut album Aquarius (RCA) and its breakout single “2 On” feat.

ScHoolboy Q , which peaked at No.

24 on the Billboard Hot 100, announced her as a new voice to watch.

But a series of albums that produced diminishing returns saw her leave her record label and strike out on her own as an independent artist, with a devoted fan base but not much commercial chart success to show for it.

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The following year, her song with dance DJ Disco Lines , “No Broke Boys,” became her first top 40 hit since “2 On,” peaking at No.

36 on the Hot 100.

And now, the resurgence is complete: Her new album, Popstar , released through Nice Life Recordings in partnership with Atlantic Records, has been lauded as one of the best albums of the year, and became the highest-charting album of her career, debuting this week at No.

6 on the Billboard 200 with 35,500 equivalent album units, a major success story for an artist who has seen all sides of the music business over the past decade.

And that success helps her manager Simonne Solitro earn the title of Billboard ’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Solitro speaks about that journey through the industry, the career resurgence that has seen Tinashe reach new heights and why Popstar has been such a successful release for her.

“Ultimately, you can release a million variants, but if you don’t give the fans and media something interesting to listen to, watch and discuss, it just won’t sell,” Solitro says.

“In this case the art was always more important than the sales.