Tate McRae

**Tate Rosner Mcrae** (/teɪt məˈkreɪ/; born July 1, 2003), known professionally as **Tate McRae**, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. At the age of thirteen, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality TV show *So You Think You Can Dance*. McRae caught the attention of RCA Records in 2019 after her original song "One Day" (2017) went viral on YouTube and TikTok, subsequently releasing her debut EP, *All the Things I Never Said* (2020). McRae soon gained wider recognition after her song "You Broke Me First" became an international hit. In 2021, McRae was the youngest musician featured on *Forbes*' 30 Under 30 list. Her second EP, *Too Young to Be Sad* (2021) was the most streamed female EP of 2021 on Spotify. Her debut studio album, *I Used to Think I Could Fly*, was released on May 27, 2022. The album was met with positive reviews from critics and reached the top 10 in various countries, and also entered at number thirteen on the US *Billboard 200*.

## Life and career

### Early life and education

Tate Rosner McRae was born in Calgary, Alberta on July 1, 2003, to a Canadian father of Scottish descent and a German mother. At age four, due to her father's work, she moved with her family to Oman, where her mother taught dance lessons, and she lived there for three years. During her time in Oman, McRae attended The American International School Muscat (TAISM). McRae began recreational dance training at age six. Having returned to Calgary, at the age of eight, she began to train more intensively in dance and competed with Drewitz Dance Productions. From age 11, she began training in all styles of dance at YYC Dance Project, a dance company owned by her mother, and undergoing ballet training at the School of Alberta Ballet, the training school for the Alberta Ballet Company.

McRae attended Western Canada High School, but graduated online in 2022, due to her "busy schedule".

### 2013–2018: Dance career and voice acting

McRae served as a voice actress for the *Lalaloopsy* franchise, voicing the part of Spot Splatter Splash from the show's inception in 2013 until its conclusion in 2015.

McRae began dancing competitively, she was awarded Mini Best Female Dancer at the 2013 Dance Awards in New York City. After gaining some prominence, she became a brand ambassador for the American dance manufacturer Capezio. She became a finalist at the New York City Dance Alliance's 2014 National Gala.

In 2015, McRae was awarded a two-week scholarship at the Berlin State Ballet company after winning the silver medal as a soloist and bronze medal for her duet at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix. She danced in the music video for Walk off the Earth's platinum-certified single "Rule The World". For the second time, McRae was awarded the Best Female Dancer award at the 2015 Dance Awards, this time in the "Junior" category.

In April 2016, McRae performed on *The Ellen DeGeneres Show* as part of the DancerPalooza troupe. In June 2016, she then took part in the thirteenth season of American television show *So You Think You Can Dance.* While competing for the America's Favorite Dancer title as a non-American, she was mentored by American dancer and actress Kathryn McCormick. She advanced further in the competition than any other Canadian in the show's history, placing third on the final episode. Canadian TV host Murtz Jaffer from *Toronto Sun* reacted, "The fact that Canadians couldn’t vote for Tate makes her third-place finish all the more impressive. While she might not have been voted America’s favorite dancer, she certainly might be Canada’s." She performed at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards as a finalist from the *SYTYCD* cast. She performed again on *The Ellen DeGeneres Show* in October 2016 as part of the Jump Dance Convention troupe.

She was featured on the cover of *Dance Spirit* Magazine in April 2017. In May 2017, she was featured in a pas de deux in Alberta Ballet Company's production, "*Our Canada"* choreographed by Jean Grand-Maître. In November 2017, after performing a dance to Demi Lovato's song Tell Me You Love Me, she was invited by Lovato to rehearse with their dancers for their performance at the American Music Awards. For the third time, she won Best Female Dancer at the 2018 Dance Awards in Las Vegas, this time in the "Teen" category, making her the first dancer in the competition's history to win in all categories from mini to teen. In April 2018, she choreographed and danced in the music video for the song "Just Say When" by American rock band Nothing More.

### 2017–2019: Music career beginnings

Since its creation in 2011, McRae's YouTube channel has featured a fairly consistent stream of primarily dance videos. In 2017 she started "Create With Tate", a video series, focused on showcasing original songs she wrote and recorded in her bedroom. Her upload of the series' first song "One Day" which she wrote at the age of 14, attracted over 37 million views, prompting her to self-release the song as an independent single. The song would eventually be certified gold in Canada, making it the first certification of her career. From 2017 to 2019, McRae continued to upload and release independent singles as part of her "Create With Tate" series. Notable songs include "Dear Ex Best Friend" which has over 40 million YouTube views and "Dear Parents" with over 20 million views. The series led to her being named a YouTube "Artist on the Rise".

Her earlier upload of "One Day" caught the attention of 11 record labels. She eventually signed with RCA Records, in August 2019, because they supported her maintaining a dance career alongside her music. Following her signing, McRae announced her debut EP *All the Things I Never Said* (stylized in all lowercase) in December 2019. She released the five-track EP on January 24, 2020 and announced her first headlining tour of Europe and North America. Each stop on the tour was sold out. The tour received a four out of five-star rating from Roisin O'Connor of The Independent who described McRae as an impressive performer.

The EP's lead single, "Tear Myself Apart", was co-written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, and together with "All My Friends Are Fake" had amassed over 10 million streams by December 2019. The songs currently have over 100 million Spotify streams combined. The EP's final single, "Stupid" clocked 4 million Spotify streams in December 2019, and currently has over 180 million Spotify streams. "Stupid" also charted in Ireland and Canada, earning significant radio airplay performance in the latter, peaking within the top 15 of the Canadian pop radio charts. "Stupid" was certified gold in Canada, making it her third Canadian certification. Each song on the EP is also stylized in lowercase. "That Way", a track from the EP experienced a resurgence in 2021 after going viral on TikTok and has gained over 200 million Spotify streams. The track also charted in the UK and Ireland becoming her third charting song in the UK, and fifth in Ireland. McRae released a remix of "That Way" with Jeremy Zucker on September 3, 2021. By September 2022, the EP had amassed over 500 million streams on Spotify.

### 2020–2021: *Too Young to Be Sad*

In April 2020, McRae released the single "You Broke Me First" amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, ahead of her second EP titled *Too Young to Be Sad*. After the song blew up online, Tate shared that she was "super happy that other people are connecting with the song too." In mid-June 2020, she released the single "Vicious" featuring American rapper Lil Mosey. In July 2020, McRae was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Push Best New Artist. That month, she uploaded an original song titled "Don't Be Sad", which was inspired by her life and amassed over 170,000 views in one day. The commercially re-released version has since gathered over 3 million views and 15 million Spotify streams. In September 2020, she made her first-ever music publication cover on that month's *Dork* Magazine issue.

McRae performed "You Broke Me First" at the pre-show for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards in August 2020, after the song had gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok and was commercially successful internationally. By September 2020, the song had accumulated over 150 million streams and became her first single to chart on the *Billboard* Hot 100. The track peaked at no 1 on the Mediabase top 40 chart, becoming her first number one single at pop radio and breaking the record for the longest climb to no 1 by a female solo artist at 28 weeks. You Broke Me First is also the longest charting song released by a female artist in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100, at 38 weeks. It currently has over 1.3 billion streams across platforms and over 990 million streams on Spotify. The song became an international hit, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders) & (Wallonia), Canada, Finland, Latvia, Malaysia, Norway, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, becoming her debut charting song in all except the Republic of Ireland. She appeared on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* on October 21 performing "You Broke Me First".

In October 2020, McRae released the single "Lie to Me" with Canadian singer Ali Gatie. The song charted in Canada, making it her third single to do so, and currently has over 90 million Spotify streams. She again performed "You Broke Me First" in November 2020 at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards after receiving a nomination for Best Push Act. She was praised by *NME* and *Billboard* for being one of the standout performers and described the night as "a serious dream." She also appeared on the cover of Notion in November 2020. In December 2020, she released the second single from her upcoming EP, "R U OK", which headlined *Billboard*'s list of ten cool new pop songs for the week, and charted on the Hot Singles Chart in New Zealand, peaking at number 19.

McRae gained notable recognition as a rising artist in 2020. She received support from multiple platforms, being named YouTube's Artist on the Rise, MTV's Push Artist for the month of July, and a Vevo DSCVR artist. She was featured on *Billboard's* 21 Under 21 One to Watch list. In December 2020, she was the youngest person named by *Forbes* on the *Forbes 30 Under 30* list in the music category, going on to call it "such an honor" and admitting she was "definitely shocked" at her inclusion. In the same month, she was named one of *Rolling Stone*'s top ten biggest breakthrough artists of 2020. She was also named on TikTok's "The Come Up: Emerging Artists" list as one of the top emerging artists on the platform. She was featured on Harper's Bazaar's "On the Rise" series which spotlights breakout talents. Towards the end of the year, following the success of "You Broke Me First", she signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV. McRae was also named by *Pandora*, *The Independent*, *NME*, Amazon Music, and Uproxx as an artist to watch in 2021.

In January 2021, McRae performed "You Broke Me First" on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*, making it her fourth live performance of the song. The following day, she released the song "Rubberband" as the third single from her upcoming EP. On March 3, 2021, she released another single called "Slower" and announced her second EP called *Too Young to Be Sad*, which was released on March 26, 2021, and includes the singles "You Broke Me First", "R U OK", "Rubberband" and "Slower", as well as two additional songs, "Bad Ones" and "Wish I Loved You in the 90s". On that same day, she was named by Apple Music as an Up Next artist. In March 2021, McRae appeared on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* performing "Slower". The same month, McRae received two Juno Award nominations for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and the Fan Choice Award.

In April 2021, McRae signed a deal with CCS Rights Management under their newly launched neighboring rights division. On April 16, 2021, McRae released the track You alongside Regard and Troye Sivan. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard remarked that the track has "one of the most straightforward but delectable choruses of 2021". In just three weeks from its release, You rose to the top of the Billboard Dance/Mixshow Airplay chart, becoming McRae's second number one on the chart, and tying the record for the fastest song to reach number one. You also spent 8 weeks atop Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Song Chart and ended the year at no 6 on the year end chart for 2021.

On May 8, 2021, McRae performed a global virtual show, "Too Young to Be Sad". The show featured a two-piece band, background dancers, and poetic interludes from McRae. The show was praised by Ali Shutler of NME, giving it a four-star rating out of five, and described the show as slick, impressive, thoughtful and a constant spectacle with pop star ambition. Later that month, she signed her first endorsement deal with ionized alkaline water, Essentia. In May 2021, McRae was nominated for the Social Star Award at the IHeartRadio Music Awards as well as two Western Canadian Music Awards. She also won two SOCAN Awards. On May 19, 2021, she performed "You" alongside Regard and Troye Sivan on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*. At the end of the month, McRae was featured on the soundtrack of the Amazon original series *Panic* with the track "Darkest Hour". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard noted that the track showcased a previously unheard multi-faceted vocal flair.

On June 4, 2021, she was featured on the song "U love U" by Blackbear. She performed "Lie to Me" at the 2021 Juno Awards on June 6, 2021, alongside Ali Gatie. She also teased the track "Working", a collaboration to be released with Khalid. The track was released on June 17, 2021. In August 2021, McRae performed at the MTV and Extra Gum 'PUSHTOTHEVMAs' pre-concert for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. That same month, she was featured on the cover of *Hunger*. From July to October 2021, McRae performed at several music festivals including IHeartRadio Music Festival, Gov Ball, Music Midtown, Lollapalooza, Firefly and ACL. Her performance at Gov Ball, was included amongst Billboard's top 5 best moments from day 1 of the festival. In September 2021, she was announced as an opening act for the North American leg of Shawn Mendes' 2022 'Wonder: The World Tour', although the tour was later cancelled before she was able to perform. She also performed on all stops in the 2021 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour. In October 2021, she was featured on Billboard's 21 under 21 list for 2021 and People's One to Watch list for 2021. McRae was featured on the cover of *Numéro* in November 2021. By the end of 2021, *Too Young to Be Sad* had amassed over 1 billion Spotify streams, becoming the most streamed EP of 2021 by a female artist on Spotify. The EP was nominated for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year at the 2022 Juno Awards.

### 2021–present: *I Used to Think I Could Fly*

On November 11, 2021, McRae released "Feel Like Shit", the lead single from her debut studio album *I Used to Think I Could Fly*, which was released on May 27, 2022. The song charted in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK and has over 100 million streams on Spotify. In January 2022, she was nominated for three iHeart Radio Awards including Best New Pop Artist, Dance Song of the Year – "You" with Regard and Troye Sivan and Best Cover Song of Conan Gray's "Heather". The same month McRae teased the track list of her upcoming debut album on Instagram, which is confirmed to have 13 tracks.

"She's All I Wanna Be", the second single from the album, was released on February 4, 2022. The song charted in the top 10 in Norway, Singapore and the Republic of Ireland, and top 40 in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa and the UK. It also debuted at no 52 in the US, becoming her highest debut to date on the hot 100. In February 2022, McRae was announced as a brand ambassador for Maybelline and the face of their new Vinyl Ink liquid lip color.

McRae released "Chaotic", the third single from the album on March 25, 2022, and released "What Would You Do?" as the fourth single on May 13, 2022.

## Influences

McRae has named Post Malone, The Weeknd, Khalid, Jessie Reyez and Jeremy Zucker as her biggest musical influences. She cites Zendaya and Dua Lipa as all around influences, and has described both women as her biggest idols, noting that she looks up to them in all aspects of life. She has also named Bruno Mars, Britney Spears, Ciara, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake as inspirations for bringing dance into her performances, while naming Taylor Swift, Julia Michaels and Alec Benjamin as songwriting inspirations. Further, McRae has called herself a "huge fan" of Swift and described her as "one of the greatest songwriters." McRae has also expressed an admiration for Billie Eilish.

## Reception

McRae has been described as "the teen dance star turned future pop idol" by *i-D,* "the new teen queen" by Notion, "Canada's answer to Billie Eilish" by *Elle*, and "one of pop’s bright young hopes" by *The Independent*. She has also been noted for her honest lyrics, impressive vocals and relatable music. Additionally, McRae has received considerable acclaim as a dancer, and has been praised by artist, dancer and choreographer Paula Abdul who declared her a "gift from God", and choreographers such as Stacey Tookey and Blake McGrath both of whom stating that she's talented beyond her years, with the latter describing her as "one of the best dancers he has ever worked with" as well as two-time Emmy winner Travis Wall who has named her as one of his muses. Margret Furher of *Dance Spirit Magazine* described her dancing as virtuosic both technically and artistically. Currently, her YouTube channel had over 880 million views, and she has gained more than 4 billion career streams.