In Defence of Tate McRae
On the precipice of yet another hit, the oil tycoon Princess of CanCon has slowly but surely been solidifying herself as a mainstay in popgirldom.
This article is part of The G Spot, a weekly segment where criticista Gordistotle gives insight into the pop culture happenings of now through opinions or anecdotes on his life living in Toronto.
On her latest offering…
The ‘So Close To What’ (really dumb album name) album is shaping up to be a successful follow-up to Tate McRae’s smash breakthrough ‘Think Later’. Yes, we’ve had many opinions on Tate McRae at SeeYouNextTuesday, like, multiple articles. What can I say, we’re obsessed with that little Albertan chica.
Her latest single “Sports car” finally shut me up. You win. It’s catchy, and I’ll ignore that it’s literally just “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls.
Side note, Ryan Tedder has been biting off Timbaland’s flow for the entirety of Tate McRae’s ascent into pop-girl-dom. Is it because Timbaland’s washed? We’re still in the Y2K resurgence (maybe not fashion-wise anymore, but sonically we’re still there- everything is kind of everywhere now, the trend cycle has been destroyed), I’m sure he can cook up some solid tracks for Tate McRae, or maybe even pull from the unreleased archives. I just want to hear Timbaland’s voice on one of her tracks, the voice we all grew up with.
“Sports car” is a triumphant victory for Tate McRae and has elevated everything that made her mainstream debut, “greedy”, so catchy. I don’t count “you broke me first” as her, and I think she should scrub it from her Spotify landing page. In typical McRae McFashion, we have no idea what she’s saying, and we’re living for it.
“ithinkyouknowwhatthisis ithinkyouwannafuhh”
While “It’s ok I’m ok”’s video left more to be desired, it's almost as if Tate telepathically heard my criticism. The Bardia Zeinali-directed “Sports car” video had our favourite oil heiress switching wigs, dawning multiple outfits, and even tonguing the camera—Ms. McRae— I love it! It’s just not in my character to hate on a Canadian. In fact, I actively overlook their corniness. While being actively held down by her puck bunny phenotype, Tate McRae shines in what’s essentially a Toronto Creative™'s FCAD - Creative School, whatever they’re calling it these days’ - thesis. Who said the pretty rural girls you went to high school with couldn’t slay? You just know Tate McRae would work the Mass Exodus runway if given the chance.
Tate is yet to have another single skyrocket up the charts like “greedy” did, but “sports car” has been stable across the charts. It’s even Top 5 on Spotify Canada (she can thank me). RCA seems to be taking a different approach to Tate’s rollout this time. While “greedy” eclipsed everything on ‘Think Later’ it seems that with ‘So Close To What’ Tate’s trying to give - and I hate this word - era. Memorable singles, choreography, dynamic videos- wait, this is kind of everything I wanted from the missing Canadian diva…
Let’s address the elephant in the room
I don’t think Tate McRae wants to be Britney Spears, well, I’m sure she wants the success and acclaim of course.
Ok, this certainly doesn’t help.
Calling Tate McRae a Britney Spears wannabe is pointless —pop music has archetypes, and Tate McRae is carving her niche by filling one. To be pop’s token dancing white girl does not automatically make you a Britney Spears. I’ll be honest — I think people give Britney Spears too much credit. Her music was catchy and she was certainly a pop culture phenomenon, but her music was surely not revolutionary, kind of like Tate McRae’s actually. If you expand your scope of reference just a bit further than the late 90s, you can easily tell that Britney Spears’ whole thing was just biting off Janet Jackson, but such is pop music.
Few can say they are true pioneers in the genre of popular music. Sure, you can excel in your field, but that does not make you a trailblazer. There have always been young popstars, there have always been popstars that dance, and there will continue to be popstars that can’t really sing. Britney Spears just so happened to arrive at the dawn of the internet and thus her rise to stardom is widely documented and easily fuels her fanbase’s nostalgia. We all grew up with Britney Spears, but it’s time to let her go. 30-something-gay-peter-pan’d Britney Spears stan screaming about Tate McRae hits my Twitter For You Page almost daily, and I’ve had it. I need to defend my Canadian third-cousin once removed. These people need to grow the fuck up!
Britney Spears does not own dancing, tight outfits, and headset microphones. She was initially a repackaged clean (even if she was serving just as much sex) version of Madonna and Janet Jackson for teenagers. Tate McRae - who makes music for teenagers - is going to be serving sex in a similar vein. ‘Tis the nature of selling to her demographic. I’m seeing tons of tweets that Tate McRae is copying Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, etc— is this not what you all wanted? “We need a pop girl that gives 2000s pop!” Well here she is, and she’s a nasally Canadian.
I don’t think Tate McRae will end up contributing much to pop culture in the grand scheme of things, especially with the way the internet has decentralized everything. People aren’t crowding around TVs for awards shows anymore and the only way to achieve fame is to be either loved or hated by the collective hive mind. While the Britney Spears fan hate tweets are so mean, they’re still promoting Tate McRae’s new single. So, tweet on. Britney Spears is the pop goddess and Tate McRae the Judas who has disobeyed her- whatever- just keep plugging her new song.
Miss Possessive Tour and what’s next
After the release of her third studio album ‘So Close To What’, our beloved Tate McRae is embarking on the “Miss Possessive Tour”. Having concluded the successful “Think Later Tour” in November last year, it's surprising just how quickly she’ll be back on the road. The “Miss Possessive Tour” is set to begin in Mexico City on March 18th. My question is—is Tate in debt, did RCA fuck her over? Is she fighting legal battles with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado? Whatever the reason may be, she better be getting paid adequately. There’s only so much the Albertan government can do, especially amongst these new tariffs.
The success of Tate McRae can be attributed to her underdog status and the world she’s created for her fans. Unbeknownst to me, she was a YouTube singer and dancer. She’s also very active on social media, as a young artist you’re gonna have to get a little parasocial to see some real numbers. It’s worked, and the kids are invested in her, notably her relationship with fellow teeny bopper Kid Laroi — I’m sure the two of them have spawned many a tween-beat-2025-equivalent articles on their status as the Gen Alpha it-couple. With such a strong fan base on her home turf, she’s even touring the Khia Canadian cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Ottawa… you don’t see that everyday. She did this for the Tater Tots.
We’re rooting for you TATE MCRAE
“Sports car” may be a shameless rehashing of “Buttons”, but that’s what the children on TikTok brainwashed themselves into worshipping. You would’ve never expected the Timbaland resurgence harbinger to be a girl with balayage from Calgary, (who isn’t even working with Timbaland) but alas, the world works in mysterious ways.
Who would I be to stop a Canadian’s grift? Just make sure he’s getting a residual cheque in the mail Tate.
