Set to follow up her recent debut with another banger, rising talent Tate McRae has unsurprisingly won hearts and is well-worth all the attention.
The Canadian singer/dancer belies her young age of 16 through the wise message she spreads with her music. Whether on ‘Tear Myself Apart’ or the upcoming ‘All My Friends Are Fake’, she says “I want my music to speak to people and for it to be relatable and real. This could mean something different to everyone listening. Hopefully, my lyrics are all the words that they could never say.”
Finding her place in the hearts of the public in 2016, at age 13 when she auditioned for American TV talent show ‘So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation’, Tate hasn’t looked back as she surges forward in her career.
Though starting as a dancer, it wasn’t long before her raw potential for singing made an appearance. Taking us through her journey as a musician, she recalls, “I started in my bedroom with my keyboard that I got when I was 6. Slowly I started working with different writers and producers. Every time I go into a writing session, I take something else away from it, which then evolves my songs.
“It’s crazy walking into a room and seeing each writer’s different perspective on life. I’ve definitely been going outside my box and trying to create music that I would have never expected myself to make.”
While on the topic of creating music, she speaks about the message behind ‘Tear Myself Apart’, “ It’s basically about how as humans, no matter what the scenario, whenever something goes wrong in a relationship we always tend to blame ourselves. It’s about the grief of getting over someone and taking it out on yourself, even if it was their fault.”
Tate is a powerhouse talent and an inspiration for any up-and-coming artist. But of course, she has own list of role models. Speaking of those that inspired her, she says,” I have so many people that inspire me. So many people in the dance world that are amazing artists and just truly great human beings who have been my mentors since I was 9, helping mould me into the person I am today. I am also inspired by so many artists such as Dua Lipa, Zendaya, Khalid, Jessie Reyez, etc., the list goes on.”
Despite her age and her relatively new place in the industry, the rising artist is a confident, yet grounded youngster. The precious piece of advice she holds close might have something to do with it. Recalling the wise words, she says, “ Always trust your instinct and stay true to who you are. Especially with social media, it’s easy to look at what everyone else is doing and question your own path, but you have to stay authentic to who you really are.”
Though Tate insists she doesn’t yet have a career, the world – and YouTube- disagrees. On being named YouTube’s On The Rise artist for this month, she reacts “I am so thankful for all the support that YouTube has given me. It has definitely been something that I have always dreamed of. And can’t believe it happened so fast.”
With this feature in her cap, she has bigger dreams. She exclaims, “ I have a HUGE bucket list. Every year I create a new list of what my short term and long-term goals are. Short term- I want to keep writing songs that connect with people, and I want to be comfortable performing live.
“Eventually, I really want to perform at an awards show! It would also be crazy to do some collabs and expand my writing knowledge. But for now, my really long-term goal is to do a World Tour. A full-blown show in an arena would be something that I’d die to experience. That’d be insane.”
Goals and dreams- along with immediate plans of more music, more videos and a tour- aside, Tate’s journey is simply about following her passion, and growing as an artist is her most prominent dream. She says, “ I love what I do and am so passionate about writing and creating songs and videos. Everything is a process, and I love being involved in it. I am really thankful for everything and everyone, and I am so excited to keep growing as an artist and to keep creating and pushing myself.”
If her love for what she gets to do wasn’t apparent already, her answer to what she wishes more people would ask her, is enough to clarify it all. No pauses to think, she says, “I guess I will be excited for the day that someone is genuinely curious as to how a certain song was created.
“Not just asking for a vague answer on what a song means to me but like a broken-down version of what my thought process was, what the room energy was like, how long it took, etc. I love thinking about everything that happens behind the scenes when creating music that is so personal to me.
Wisdom, ambition and humility shine bright throughout my conversation with Tate, but she’s still a teenager. As she puts it herself when talking about her mind that goes a mile per minute and her fluctuating connection with different songs, she says, “ I feel like I will connect to one song one month, and then it will be a completely different genre, style, vibe, lyrics, the next month. This is because I’m a teenager and can never really figure out how I feel about things. I swear it changes every 5 seconds. It’s funny because sometimes I’ll write a song, not really connect to it, and then six months later that exact situations are happening in my life, and it literally takes the words out of my mouth.”
Only one track into a career – with one more fast approaching – as a singer it’s already clear as day that Tate McRae is made for stardom and made to capture hearts with her deep yet relatable energy.
