Breakout Canadian Sensation Tate McRae Says Billie Eilish Comparisons Are ‘Lazy’

Many a dancer has reinvented themselves as a pop star – Madonna, Paula Abdul, FKA twigs… But the Canadian teen Tatum "Tate" McRae – a finalist on the US reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation – has pulled it off in the hyper-digital era, enjoying a pandemic mega-hit with 2020's you broke me first. Today she's a triple threat: a singer/songwriter, dancer and vlogger. At the end of the month, McRae will deliver her hotly-anticipated debut album, i used to think i could fly. Then, this winter, she'll tour Australia – several dates already sold out. McRae's fans, dubbed "Tater Tots", should practice their moves. 

A charming McRae is conducting interviews from a luxe coach, mid-North American run – the aesthetic '80s film noir. "I'm on the road," she confirms over a glitchy Zoom connection. "We have three cities left of my headline tour. So we're on the tour bus in Nebraska right now." The 18-year-old exudes glamour, with plaits and fresh make-up befitting a Maybelline New York brand ambassador.

Hailing from Calgary, McRae is accustomed to the nomadic life. As a child, she spent three years in Oman, her father a lawyer and executive. "I wish I remembered more," McRae ponders. "When I was younger, obviously we used to travel the world. I've been to so many different places that I have no recollection of. But, when I look back at photos, it's pretty incredible… But, yeah, we used to go down to Dubai all the time and go camping on the beach and have lots of experiences that I wish I could relive right now."

In fact, McRae is a seasoned performer, too. She was a child star, albeit as a dancer. Her mother an instructor, McRae trained early, progressing to the competition circuit. (She was also a voice actor for Nickelodeon's animated series Lalaloopsy.) In 2016 McRae participated in So You Think You Can Dance – Abdul, a judge, raving about her. Meanwhile, she gigged as a back-up dancer for other pop idols – including Justin Bieber. However, McRae's career direction changed when she began penning songs in her bedroom. 

McRae didn't necessarily aspire to be a singer/songwriter, let alone plot any pivot. "Honestly, I thought I was gonna grow up and be a good dancer, 'cause I dedicated so many hours to it at a really young age," she explains. "At one point, I was convinced that I was gonna move to Europe and become a ballerina – which I was really close to doing.

"I never really thought that I was going to be a singer; I thought I was always going to be like the back-up dancer. So it's very wild now that I'm able to do both."

McRae launched a YouTube channel to share dance clips. In 2017 she spontaneously aired the piano ballad One Day – which went viral, prompting a record company bidding war. McRae signed to RCA Records, on the tacit understanding she continue to pursue dance. The label gifted her the alt-pop tear myself apart, co-written by Billie Eilish and brother FINNEAS. It'd be the first sample of McRae's debut EP, 2020's all the things i never said. Yet her breakthrough came with the Auto-Tune epic you broke me first – a brutal kiss-off to a (not so) repentant ex from a second EP, TOO YOUNG TO BE SAD. In Australia, you broke me first reached the ARIA Top 10 Singles and is now multi-platinum. 

Along the way, McRae has had credible collabs – joining Khalid on the breezy working, helmed by Joel Little (Lorde). She's twice teamed with Australians. McRae duetted with Troye Sivan on the Kosovar Albanian DJ Regard's aerial EDM track You – the trio performing together on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – and she featured on a remix of the SAYGRACE (formerly Grace Sewell) bop Boys Ain't Shit. McRae's pressers are full of streaming stats, awards and accolades. (Notably, she was the youngest musician in Forbes' '30 Under 30' in late 2020.) 

These days McRae views the dance realm with ambivalence. "I don't think I miss it," she laughs wryly. "I miss the dancing aspect, because dancing is my passion and I will forever love it 'til the day I die. But, definitely, when I stepped outside of the dance world for the first time, I realised the toxicity of the dance world and just realised how mistreated dancers can be. 

"I feel very lucky because now I'm in a position where I can dance on stage and I can write and I can sing. Then, again, I can also make sure that my dancers are treated well and they're getting to express themselves."

Still, that early encounter with fame primed McRae for popdom. She is unusually poised – prodigies often betraying apprehension towards the media. And, in contrast to most social media players, McRae intuits the importance of telling relatable stories, rebuffing algorithm culture.

"I think every single experience you go through when you're younger – like constantly competing my whole life and then being put in really high-pressure scenarios – just genuinely gave me a tough skin. I feel like I can handle a lot. I'm a really tough girl, because I feel like I've gone through so many hours of sweat and tears and blood that I know how to get through a tough situation. So I feel like that's what it definitely prepared me for – just like stress. I can manage it well."

Last November, McRae released the resonant feel like shit as the lead single from her upcoming album, i used to think i could fly, complete with elaborately choreographed video. The emo title remains outré given the prevailing conservatism of radio programmers. What did RCA make of it? "The label at this point lets me have my own voice, because the only person who's gonna understand my fans is me; the only person who's gonna be able to connect with them is me," McRae says blithely. "So they kind of let me do whatever I want."

Typical of McRae's material, feel like shit conveys humour, while showing her vulnerability. The singer admits that she may seem a contradiction, being ebullient in real life. "People meet me for the first time and they're like, 'No way you write these songs,'" she states. "I feel like I'm a level-headed and a pretty normal person who doesn't take things too seriously."

At any rate, McRae believes her songs provide "perspective on certain situations," akin to journaling. The album chronicles her coming of age, but it's also cathartic. "I feel like, mentally, obviously my music, when I write, is an outlet for me. So it was like therapy. You know, I went through my first-ever heartbreak. I experienced fake friends. In Los Angeles, when I initially moved out, I experienced a lot of incredible and overwhelmingly, like, insane feelings. 

"But, then again, my music, when I went to go write, was usually when I needed to get something off my chest. So the album kind of takes you through a rollercoaster of moments where I'm, like, super-pissed-off to when I felt my most vulnerable to when I felt super-powerful and like a bad bitch. I feel like it kind of takes you through this whole world of an 18-year-old's brain."

Since aligning herself with RCA, McRae has worked alongside elite producers – among them the Grammy-winning Greg Kurstin, known for his output with Adele. The American produced McRae's recent singles she's all i wanna be – alt-rock – and chaotic, a plaintive ballad. But he never imposed.

"It was really interesting, because a lot of my sessions, all everyone did, and all the producers and all the writers did, was talk – and it gave me no room to talk myself, which is exactly what my music is. 

"[But] as soon as I got in the session with Greg, he did his own thing. He put down his genius chords and created the whole palette of the song, and I just wrote exactly how I was feeling. Honestly, it's really interesting, because we left the session of writing she's all i wanna be – and we literally just gave each other a high-five and I'm like, 'Alright, I'll see you next time.' We didn't talk about the song at all."

Beyond the 'pop' tag, McRae is unsure how to describe her music. ("I don't really know what my sound is," she muses. "I'm still trying to figure that out.") As a listener, McRae's sensibilities are surprising. "My music taste right now is all over the place," she suggests. "I'm listening to The Neighbourhood on repeat right now and country music." Country? "I have always been into country," the Calgarian affirms. "Well, not always – my brother got me into it. But, where I'm from, country music is a big thing. There's a lot of cowboys where I'm from. So, you know, country music is very appreciated. I think the storytelling of country music is unlike any other genre."

The media has disingenuously compared McRae to Eilish with her emoisms – frustrating to an artist establishing her identity. "I definitely do think they are being a little lazy," she says. Her mode is possibly closer to that of Ariana Grande or Alessia Cara, if not the dark Jessie Reyez, leaning into R&B. Nevertheless, McRae does "100 per cent understand" the reference to Eilish. "There's so many new female artists right now that are coming into the industry," she reasons. "So, like, obviously, I think there's gonna be similarities… I mean, she's so inspiring – and she's so incredible. But I do think our music is wildly different."

Shortly after her birthday in July, McRae will embark on an inaugural Australian headlining tour – stopping off in Adelaide for the Spin-Off festival. As it turns out, she's visited before. "This will be my second time – I came when I was 15 for a week," McRae reveals (she was actually 13). Indeed, McRae was a special guest at 2017's Victorian Dance Festival, "assisting" her SYTYCD "mentor" Kathryn McCormick and even did advance press. A precocious McRae prophetically outlined her professional goals to Dance Informa: "I like to keep my options open," she said. "You never know where life will take you!"

This go, McRae is hoping for some downtime. "I'm definitely not looking forward to the flight or the jetlag. But I'm excited to see Australia again and be able to experience the culture of it a bit more."

Later in the year, McRae will support Canadian superstar Shawn Mendes. "I'm so excited," she enthuses. "We leave in September and we are doing, I think, like, 27 different cities. Obviously, he's an angel and so incredible. I'm so insanely grateful to be taking the stage with him and get to watch him every night." Just don't count on McRae not eclipsing him.