Rockstar AU has to be one of the more versatile tropes—it can be pure glam wish-fulfillment or a gritty character study. The ones that stick with me aren't just about the backstage hookups, though those are fun, but about the exhaustion and weirdness of that life.
Lately, I've been returning to 'Signal to Noise' for 'The Untamed.' It's a modern AU where Lan Wangji is this notoriously reclusive composer and Wei Wuxian is the chaotic frontman brought in for a collaboration. The tension isn't just romantic; it's about artistic friction, the pressure to produce, and how music becomes their only real language. The author nails the sensory details: the smell of stale beer in green rooms, the vibration of a bass line through the floor. It feels lived-in.
Another I'd recommend is a 'Haikyuu!!' fic centered on Oikawa and Iwaizumi, where Oikawa's the pop-punk star and Iwaizumi is his long-suffering tour manager/childhood friend. It's less about fame and more about the strained loyalty between them, the resentment that builds from being the 'responsible' one. The slow-burn reconciliation hit harder because of the setting—all those long bus rides and shared hotel rooms with nothing but time to argue or finally talk.
For something completely different, there's a crossover between 'Yuri on Ice' and 'Given' floating around that reimagines Victor as a washed-up rock legend and Yuuri as the blogger who writes a scathing review that somehow leads to a comeback tour. It's messy and self-indulgent in the best way, full of mid-life crisis energy.