Tate Rosner McRae (born July 1, 2003) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and dancer. At the age of 13, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality television series So You Think You Can Dance. McRae was signed by RCA Records in 2019 after her songs had gained traction online—including her 2017 viral hit "One Day"—and she released her debut extended play (EP), All the Things I Never Said (2020), in January of the following year. Her 2020 single, "You Broke Me First", became an international hit and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, McRae was the youngest musician to be featured on the 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 (2022)[6] was met with favorable critical response and peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard 200, also reaching the top ten in several countries. She announced her second studio album, Think Later in 2023. Developing a more pop-oriented image, McRae's 2023 single, "Greedy" saw her furthest commercial success; it peaked atop the Canadian Hot 100 and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Its follow-up, "Exes", peaked at numbers nine and 34 on the charts, respectively, and preceded the release of her second studio album, Think Later (2023), which debuted in the top five in various countries. Her third studio album So Close to What will be released on February 21, 2025.
Tate Rosner McRae[7] was born in Calgary, Alberta, on Canada Day in 2003, to a Canadian father of Scottish descent and mother of German descent.[2][8] At the age of 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.[8][9] During her time in Oman, McRae attended The American International School Muscat (TAISM).[10] McRae began recreational dance training at age six.[9][11] Having returned to Calgary, at the age of eight, she began to train more intensively in dance[12] 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,[13] and underwent ballet training at the School of Alberta Ballet, the training school for the Alberta Ballet Company.[14][11][15]
McRae attended Western Canada High School and graduated online in 2022.[16][17][18]
McRae was awarded Mini Best Female Dancer at the 2013 Dance Awards in New York City.[19] After gaining some prominence,[20] she became a brand ambassador for the American dance manufacturer Capezio.[9] She became a finalist at the New York City Dance Alliance's 2014 National Gala.[21] She also voiced Spot Splatter Splash for the Lalaloopsy (2013–2015) franchise.[22]
In June 2016, she performed at Justin Bieber's concert in Calgary for the Purpose World Tour during Bieber's performance of "Children".[25] In April 2016, McRae performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as part of the DancerPalooza troupe.[26] In June 2016, she took part in the thirteenth season of American television show So You Think You Can Dance.[27] While competing for the America's Favorite Dancer title as a non-American, she was mentored by American dancer and actress Kathryn McCormick.[28] She advanced further in the competition than any other Canadian in the show's history, placing third on the final episode.[29] 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 favourite dancer, she certainly might be Canada's."[30] She performed at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards as a finalist from the SYTYCD cast.[31] She performed again on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in October 2016 as part of the Jump Dance Convention troupe.[32]
She was featured on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine in April 2017.[33] In May 2017, she was featured in a pas de deux in Alberta Ballet Company's production, "Our Canada" choreographed by Jean Grand-Maître.[34][35] 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.[36] For the third time, she won Best Female Dancer at the 2018 Dance Awards in Las Vegas, this time in the Teen category,[37] 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.[38][39]
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.[16] Her upload of the series' first song "One Day" which she wrote at the age of 14, attracted over 40 million views, prompting her to self-release the song as an independent single.[40][2] The song would eventually be certified gold in Canada, making it the first certification of her career.[41] 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 50 million views and "Dear Parents" with over 20 million views. The series led to her being named a YouTube Artist on the Rise.[42]
Her earlier upload of "One Day" caught the attention of 11 record labels.[16] She eventually signed with RCA Records, in August 2019,[43] because they supported her in maintaining a dance career alongside her music.[44][45] Following her signing, McRae announced her debut EP All the Things I Never Said in December 2019.[46] She released the five-track EP on January 24, 2020, and announced her first headlining tour of Europe and North America.[47] Each stop on the tour was sold out.[48] The tour received a four out of five star rating from Roisin O'Connor of The Independent who described McRae as an impressive performer.[49]
The EP's lead single, "Tear Myself Apart", was co-written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell.[47] The EP's final single, "Stupid" charted in Ireland and Canada, earning significant radio airplay performance in the latter, peaking within the top 15 of the Canadian pop radio charts.[50] "Stupid" was certified gold in Canada.[41] "That Way", a track from the EP experienced a resurgence in 2021 after going viral on TikTok and charted in the UK[51] and Ireland.[52] McRae released a remix of "That Way" with Jeremy Zucker on September 3, 2021.[53] By December 2023, the EP had amassed over 729 million streams on Spotify.
In April 2020, McRae released the single "You Broke Me First" as the lead single for her second EP titled Too Young to Be Sad.[54][55] The song was an international success, peaking within the top ten of the charts in several countries and becoming her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.[56] It was also the longest charting song released by a female artist in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100, at 38 weeks.[57] It peaked at number 1 on the Mediabase Top 40 chart, breaking the record for the longest climb to number 1 by a female solo artist at 28 weeks.[57]
McRae made her first late night TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 21 performing "You Broke Me First".[63] The same month, she released the single "Lie to Me" with Canadian singer Ali Gatie.[64] She again performed "You Broke Me First" in November 2020 at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards. She appeared on the cover of Notion in November 2020.[65] In December 2020, she released "r u ok", the second single from her upcoming EP.[66]
McRae gained notable recognition as a rising artist in 2020, being named YouTube's Artist on the Rise, MTV's Push Artist for July, and a Vevo DSCVR artist.[67]
She was featured in Billboard's 21 Under 21 One to Watch list [68] and named by Pandora,[69]The Independent,[70]NME,[71]Amazon Music,[72] and Uproxx[73] as an artist to watch in 2021. In December 2020, she was the youngest person listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the music category.[74][75] In the same month, she was named one of Rolling Stone's top ten biggest breakthrough artists of 2020 [76] and featured on TikTok's "The Come Up: Emerging Artists" list as one of the top emerging artists on the platform.[77] She was also featured on Harper's Bazaar's On the Rise series.[78] Towards the end of the year, following the success of "You Broke Me First", she signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV.[67]
On April 16, 2021, McRae released the track "You" alongside Regard and Troye Sivan.[83] On May 8, 2021, McRae performed a global virtual show, "Too Young to Be Sad".[84] The show was praised by Ali Shutler of NME, who gave it a four star rating and described the show as slick, impressive, constant spectacle with pop star ambition. Later that month, she signed her first endorsement deal with Essentia Water.[85] In May 2021, McRae was nominated for the Social Star Award at the IHeartRadio Music Awards,[86] and performed "You" with Regard and Troye Sivan on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[87] At the end of the month, she was featured on the soundtrack of the Amazon original series Panic with the track "Darkest Hour".[88]
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.[97][98] In January 2022, she was nominated for three iHeart Radio Awards.[99]
"She's All I Wanna Be", the second single from the album, was released on February 4, 2022.[100] The song reached the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, and Belgium. It also charted in the Top 40 in several countries. It debuted at number 52 in the US, becoming her highest debut on the Hot 100 at the time.[101] In February 2022, McRae was announced as a brand ambassador for Maybelline and the face of their new Vinyl Ink liquid lip color.[102]
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.[103] On June 3, 2022, Tate released a music video for her single "Don't Come Back" exclusively via TikTok, and later released the vertical version of the video on July 11, 2022, on YouTube.[citation needed]
In September 2022, McRae released the single "Uh Oh".[104] In November 2022, Tate was featured on "10:35" by Tiësto, a promo-single for the opening of the luxury resort Atlantis The Royal, Dubai.[105] The song became her second UK Top 10. It reached the Top 10 in ten other countries.[citation needed]
McRae was nominated for five Juno Awards in 2023, and performed at the show.[106] In March 2023, McRae teamed up with MCM Worldwide for their Spring/Summer 2023 Campaign, performing "uh oh" and "She's All I Wanna Be".[107] On September 15, 2023, she released "Greedy" as the lead single for her sophomore studio album Think Later.[108] Greedy became her biggest debut to date on Spotify,[109] and her first top 10 on the Global Spotify Charts.[110] It debuted at number 1 in Norway[111] and Denmark[112] and peaked at number 1 in several countries including Canada, Denmark, Austria, and the Netherlands, as well as the Billboard Global 200, making it her first official number 1 single worldwide.
McRae’s second studio album Think Later was officially released on December 8, 2023.[113] The album received mixed to positive appraisal from both fans and critics, with Rolling Stone noting M.I.A. and Ariana Grande’s influences on the project, stating that in terms of the latter, Think Later "represented a career-defining shift for McRae as she pulled herself from the rubble of grief, heartbreak, and internal turmoil."[114][115]Think Later debuted in the top 5 of the charts in US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium and Norway.
The second single from Think Later, "Exes", was released on November 17, 2023, and peaked in the top 10 in Canada and the Netherlands, top 20 in the UK and Australia, and top 40 in the US. On November 18, 2023, she performed "Greedy" and a then-unreleased song titled "Grave" on Saturday Night Live.[116][117] She also made her debut American award show performance with "Greedy" at the Billboard Music Awards on November 19, 2023.[118] McRae performed a medley at the 2024 NHL All-Star game in Toronto in February 2024.[119] In March 2024, she made her debut performance at the Brit Awards with "Greedy"[120] and subsequently performed a medley of "Greedy" and "Exes" at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in April.[121] McRae won the Juno Award for Artist of the Year, and Single of the Year for "Greedy" at the 2024 Juno Awards.[122]
On September 13, 2024, McRae released the single "It's OK I'm OK" to positive reviews and commercial success, charting in several countries worldwide and becoming her highest charting debut on the Billboard Hot 100.[123][124][125] It was followed by the single "2 Hands" on November 14, 2024.[126][127] On November 14, 2024, McRae announced the release of So Close to What for February 21 of the following year, along with plans for the Miss Possessive Tour, to launch a month later.[128]
McRae has been described as "the teen dance star turned future pop idol" by i-D,[148] "the new teen queen" by Notion,[141] "Canada's answer to Billie Eilish" by Elle,[140] and "one of pop's bright young hopes" by The Independent.[49]
She has also been noted for her honest lyrics, "impressive" vocals and relatable music.[149][136] 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",[44] and choreographers such as Stacey Tookey and Blake McGrath, both of whom stated that she's talented beyond her years, with the latter describing her as "one of the best dancers he has ever worked with"[150][22] as well as two-time Emmy winner Travis Wall,[151] who has named her as one of his muses.[152] Margaret Furher of Dance Spirit Magazine described her dancing as virtuosic both technically and artistically.[37] As of March 2024, her YouTube channel has amassed over 1.5 billion views and she has garnered more than 8.4 billion career streams across all platforms.[153][154]
^Sherwin, Amanda (January 1, 2015). "You Should Know: Tate McRae". Dance Spirit. Archived from the original on November 27, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
^dramsay@pmc.com (November 30, 2021). "Billboard Global 200". Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
^Rouhani, Rania Aniftos,Katie Atkinson,Katie Bain,Stephen Daw,Griselda Flores,Josh Glicksman,Lyndsey Havens,Carl Lamarre,Cydney Lee,Jason Lipshutz,Jessica Nicholson,Jessica Roiz,Neena; Aniftos, Rania; Atkinson, Katie; Bain, Katie; Daw, Stephen; Flores, Griselda; Glicksman, Josh; Havens, Lyndsey; Lamarre, Carl (May 15, 2023). "Billboard's 21 Under 21: See Who Made the 2023 List". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 15, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)