Tate McRae, talent, dreams and discipline to make a name for herself in pop

When Canadian singer Tate McRae looks in the mirror, she probably sees Britney Spears, her main role model, reflected there. The Canadian, 22, who also rose to childhood fame when she finished third on the U.S. show So You Think You Can Dance at the age of 13, has not stopped working on self-improvement and taking her performances to the limit, with dance as her flagship: “I think as a dancer I’m inherently a workaholic, so time off doesn’t suit me very well,” she explained in an interview last February with Vogue.

Her work schedule and beginning to make a name for herself in the pop industry saw her to win two of the four awards for which she was nominated at the recent MTV Video Music Awards, held on September 7 at the UBS Arena in New York. That night, McRae took home the awards for best edit and song of the summer for Just Keep Watching, a track from the F1 movie soundtrack. Tatiana — as she likes to call herself when she “transforms” on stage — revealed last year her intention to be one of the live performers at the gala: “I always have things that I’m setting my sights on. I’m a very goal-driven person. Sometimes, I think I’m a little clairvoyant. I’m really good at manifesting! I would die to perform at the VMA’s. That’s something I’ve watched all my idols do for so many years. For some reason, that specific performance is something I’ve always wanted. My ideal performance is a perfect balance of dance, outfit, singing, and musical arrangement,” she said in an interview with PRIDE. And she succeeded: social media was captivated by the performance she prepared for her big night.

2016 was a big year for McRae. In addition to the aforementioned competition, she was a dancer for Justin Bieber in her hometown of Calgary during his Purpose World Tour, although, as she clarified in an interview with E! News in 2024, it was only for one concert. The two compatriots maintain a good relationship, and the artist even attended the release party for Bieber’s new album, Swag II, in early September.

McRae already had a track record of minor dance awards thanks to her training, which took place between Oman — where she lived from the ages of two to five — and her hometown, where her mother worked as a dance instructor. “My career has grown in bursts since I was 13, so I never had that ‘overnight success’ moment. Because of that, I still have trouble comprehending how many people are listening. Sometimes, I can’t process why people show up to my shows. I don’t focus on numbers or streams [...] I always want to outdo my last project, push myself further. That’s how I measure success — by my own growth,” the artist concluded in an interview with VMagazine in February.

She may not take them into account, but the numbers back up her success: she has 53 million monthly listeners on Spotify; nearly eight million followers on Instagram; her latest song, Just Keep Watching, already has more than 250 million streams across all platforms; and she’s in the top 50 most-streamed artists in the world. It wasn’t until 2023 that her name and her music began to gain traction. At the end of the year, her song Greedy topped the Billboard Global 200 chart, and almost two years later, it has racked up nearly two billion streams. But her musical career began independently when she signed with RCA Records in 2019 and released two EPs: All the Things I Never Said (2020) and Too Young to Be Sad (2021).

This year, when she began to reap the first fruits in the form of award nominations, she released the album So Close to What in February. “I liked the fact that it had a bit of an ambiguous meaning to it [...] I was feeling grown up for the first time, but I’m still 21 [she turned 22 in July], which was confusing. I really felt like a woman for the first time — feeling confident about my sexuality and empowered — but then some days waking up and feeling sexualized in a way I didn’t enjoy, and feeling very misunderstood. I felt very conflicted, and like a walking contradiction, and So Close to What perfectly summed that up," she explained in Vogue.

She defines herself as a reserved and honest person: “I pride myself on honesty in my songwriting. I’m already a private person — I have a small circle, and I don’t share much. The beauty of songwriting is that no one has to know who or what a song is about. It’s a feeling, a tiny idea that can be expanded into something huge. The mystery excites me. These are just stories, just songs. I don’t have to explain them because sometimes they’re not that straightforward,” she said in the interview with VMagazine.

The musical circle she’s in has other big names she’s been linked to: Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and SZA: “My dream is to write with SZA. She’s one of the coolest and best writers ever. I just want to always keep pushing my comfort zone. I never want to recycle and do the same things,” she told PRIDE.

McRae wouldn’t be the same without all the physical work that goes into it, which, for many years, has taken up a large part of her daily life, in addition to her asthma. As a child, she spent 40 hours a week just dancing. She also did rhythmic gymnastics, and on weekends she danced more and attended conventions, as she explained in an interview with Paper. “It’s definitely exhausting, the dancing. I shot a music video yesterday, and I have bruises over my entire body! I just have to keep working out and eating healthy and making sure I’m fueling my body properly. I grew up doing ballet, and it was just as demanding — if not even more demanding — so I feel like that set me up for this world,” she explained to Vogue.

Although the relationship between the VMAs and the singer began in 2020, when she was nominated for the award for best new push artist, it was in 2024 when she gained more attention, when she was nominated for best choreography (which ultimately went to Dua Lipa for Houdini) and best pop video (which went to Taylor Swift). McRae surprised those in attendance with a black lace Roberto Cavalli ensemble that bore many resemblances to the dress Britney Spears wore in 2001, courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana: “For sure, the VMAs look was an homage to Britney, a million percent. I just thought she looked so stunning in that dress,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.

After taking home nearly half of the awards she was nominated for at the UBS Arena in Elmont on September 7, McRae will continue to focus on her Miss Possessive Tour, which began in August, with the firm intention of continuing to etch her name into the pop world.

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