---
title: "Tinashe performs a Popstar and Melatonin medley on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in New York"
url: https://badiyaa.com/tinashe-popstar-melatonin-tonight-show-fallon/
published: 2026-11-12T06:19:00+00:00
modified: 2026-11-12T06:19:00+00:00
section: Entertainment
publisher: Badiyaa
---

# Tinashe performs a Popstar and Melatonin medley on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in New York

Tinashe sang a medley of Popstar and Melatonin on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 10, with a dance break fans tied to Janet Jackson.

Tinashe used one late-night slot to play both halves of her new album. On Tuesday, November 10, she took the stage at *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* in New York with a medley that opened on the slow title track “Popstar” and snapped into the club single “Melatonin.” The show posted the full clip to its own YouTube channel under the title “Tinashe: Popstar/Melatonin.”

## Why this pairing makes sense

The choice of songs tells you how she sees the record. *Popstar*, released September 25 through her Tinashe Music imprint with Nice Life and Atlantic, is built on the idea of fame as a costume. She has called the pop star “a persona one can embody,” with the glamour and the scrutiny living side by side. The title track is the reflective, slightly wounded version of that idea. “Melatonin,” the August single, is the version that dances through it.

Putting the two back to back on network TV is a smart pitch to new listeners. Plenty of people know Tinashe from the 2024 TikTok run of “Nasty,” which gave her a first solo entry on the US singles chart at No. 61. Fewer have heard the album that followed, which debuted at No. 6 on the US albums chart, her first top 10 at home, and went to No. 1 on the UK R&B albums chart.

The calendar helps explain the timing. Her short fall run ended at the Hollywood Palladium on November 7, three days before the taping. Badiyaa has already laid out the [18-date Show Must Go On tour that starts in Dallas on April 14](https://badiyaa.com/tinashe-show-must-go-on-tour-2027/), and a TV slot in November keeps the album in front of fans during a five-month gap without shows.

## Inside the clip

The performance runs on contrast. “Popstar” arrives first in a stripped, orchestral setting, with Tinashe alone at center. Then the lights drop, dancers move into silhouette, and “Melatonin” kicks in with full choreography. According to one report from the taping, she switched from a white feathered coat to black leather between the two songs.

The dance break drew the most chatter. Fans online pointed to a move that appears to borrow from Janet Jackson’s 1994 *Saturday Night Live* routine for “Throb,” a deep-cut nod that only longtime R&B watchers would catch. Tinashe has not said publicly whether it was intentional, so treat it as a fan reading rather than a confirmed tribute.

## What works, and what doesn’t

The strongest part is the edit itself. A medley usually means two songs squeezed to fit, but here the cut between them is the point: the quiet song sets up the loud one, and the staging makes the costume change feel like the album’s theme in miniature.

The trade-off is time. “Melatonin” runs 3:42 on the record and “Popstar” 2:47, so neither song gets its full shape on TV. Viewers hoping for a complete vocal showcase of the ballad get a taste rather than the whole thing. And the medley format, for all its flash, leaves no room for a deeper cut such as “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore,” which interpolates Wale and Lady Gaga’s “Chillin.”

Still, as a three-minute pitch for a 16-track album, it lands. For more R&B on the late-night circuit, browse our [Entertainment section](https://badiyaa.com/category/entertainment/).

The next Tinashe date on the calendar is April 2, when she opens for Harry Styles at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

## Further reading

- [Wikipedia: Popstar (Tinashe album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popstar_(Tinashe_album))

*Image: Drew de F Fawkes, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons*

*This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*