From competitive dancer to worldwide famous singer, Tate McRae has created a name for herself, broken records and captured the hearts of millions—all at only 20 years old. She has grown increasingly famous after her hit single “greedy,” which peaked at number one on the Billboard Global 200 and Canadian Hot 100, as well as third on the Billboard Hot 100. The release of her second studio album, “THINK LATER,” this past December, has garnered an entirely new audience, as it is different from McRae’s previous work, shifting her genre from mournful ballads to dynamic alt-pop hits. Yet even before this, she became recognized early on in the dance industry, and later the music industry, topping the Billboard charts and winning numerous accolades.
Tate McRae grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and sang and danced from a young age.
She began dance training at age six and began more competitively at age eight. She began to gain recognition after winning a couple of dance awards, including Best Female Dancer at the 2013 and 2015 Dance Awards in New York City. She performed at Justin Bieber’s concert in 2016 in her hometown of Calgary and was also featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Her bigger rise to fame came at age 13, where she was a finalist on So You Think You Can Dance. During this time, she also had a YouTube channel where she would sing, dance and do weekly vlogs. In 2017, she began her Create with Tate series, where she wrote and performed original songs. The first song, “One Day,” got over 40 million views and prompted her to sign with RCA Records, where she released her debut EP, featuring five songs. Now quite popular, 17-year-old Tate went on her first headlining tour across North America and Europe, with all shows sold out.
In April 2020, Tate released “You Broke Me First,” her first single to reach the Billboard Hot 100 and also the longest charting song released by a female artist in 2020 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song gave her a big push to stardom, as she was nominated for lots of awards, named YouTube’s Artist on the Rise, featured on The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and became the youngest person on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the music category. In 2021, she was featured on a number of songs, the most popular being “You” with Regard and Troye Sivan. All of her songs had been quite sad and slow, revolving around themes of heartbreak and loneliness, but she began to expand her horizons into more pop and techno beats with “You” and “10:35” by Tiesto.
Her most popular singles yet, “she’s all i wanna be,” “feel like shit” and “chaotic” were released between late 2021 and early 2022. After the success of these singles, Tate released her debut album, “i used to think i could fly,” in May 2022, featuring 13 total tracks. She was inspired by Billie Eilish’s 2019 album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” and The Weeknd’s “After Hours,” mellower, sadder albums. The songs were emotional and featured lots of teenage angst and deep feelings, which resonated with many. A month later, she embarked on a tour in support of the album at just 18 years old, having graduated from having a YouTube fanbase to having millions of devoted listeners.
In December 2022, Tate talked about wanting to begin a new chapter in music. She wrote “greedy” a month later, describing it as a female empowerment song, hoping that people would see her as a more confident and bold performer rather than a sad girl. The song gained popularity on TikTok and topped the charts shortly after. She performed the hit on Saturday Night Live and at the Billboard Music Awards, expressing her astonishment at the song’s quick rise to popularity. Shortly after, Tate released another single titled “exes,” which was more upbeat like “greedy.” This was a catalyst for the release of her sophomore album “THINK LATER,” a 14-track album which featured lots of catchy tunes and meaningful lyrics, really emphasizing her transition to a more bold and confident figure. She cited Ariana Grande and M.I.A. as influences for the project and expressed overall admiration for Grande, Eilish and Taylor Swift. She will begin her world tour at the end of April, beginning in Germany and finishing up in New York in August. And this is truly only the beginning. At 20 years old, there is plenty of room for Tate to release more music, dance and grow in whatever way she wants. She has the potential to grow into a mega superstar. Her future is incredibly bright and she’ll definitely be a name to remember.
