Tate McRae is proof that some pop stars are born this way. The Calgary, Alberta, native appears to have just exploded into our consciousness over the past year or so, but take a dive into the 21-year-old singer’s backstory, and you can see that she’s been laying the groundwork for her chart domination for more than half her life.
After starting dance lessons at 6 years old and focusing on her moves over vocals, McRae began entering a series of dance competitions in the U.S. At 13, she joined the cast of the 13th season of So You Think You Can Dance, coming in third place, making her the highest placing Canadian in the reality show’s history.
That led to some sweet follow-up gigs thanks to the dance-centric YouTube channel she launched in 2011, including dancing at a Calgary stop on fellow Canadian Justin Bieber’s 2016 Purpose world tour. Before pivoting to music, McCrea launched her “Create With Tate” video series in 2017, which morphed into focusing on original songs she’d written, including the sticky ballad “One Day,” which to date has racked up more than 40 million views.
Those videos helped McRae land a recording contract with RCA Records in 2019, which released her debut EP, All the Things I Never Said, in January 2020; the collection hit No. 16 on Billboard‘s Heatseekers albums chart and featured the lead single “Tear Myself Apart,” co-written by Billie Eilish and brother/producer Finneas.
Wasting no time, McRae was back in March 2021 with a second EP, Too Young to Be Sad, which included her breakthrough single, the brooding “You Broke Me First.” The song spent 38 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 17, marking McRae’s highest chart success to that point. In addition, Too Young to Be Sad was crowned the most streamed EP by a female artist on Spotify in 2021 and “You Broke Me First” was featured in more than one million TikTok videos. McRae was the youngest person included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021, where the then-17-year-old took her place among such 20something stars as Lil Baby, Melanie Martinez, Roddy Richh, Gabby Barrett and Doja Cat.
Though her star really began rising in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was trapped at home, McRae kept the creative fires burning, releasing her debut full-length studio album, I Used to Think I Could Fly, in May 2022. The album peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart, with bubbly, jealousy-tinged single “She’s All I Wanna Be” spending 20 weeks on the Hot 100, where it ran up to No. 44.
Then things rocketed to a whole new level with the release of the lead single from McRae’s No. 4-charting sophomore album 2023’s Think Later, the angsty dance pop burner “Greedy.” The song was accompanied by a Great North-appropriate video featuring sexy ice rink dance routines and McRae cruising on the ice atop a Zamboni, which may have helped it race up to No. 3 on the Hot 100 tally.
Things kept humming along with the next single, the Bieber-esque pop kiss-off “Exes,” whose sultry, dance-heavy video paid homage to some of McRae’s inspirations, including Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera; the song topped out at No. 34 on the Hot 100. The beat went on with the third electro-pop single from the collection, “It’s OK I’m OK,” which grabbed attention for its skin-baring, street dancing music video.
Watch Billboard Explains: Tate McRae Rise to Pop Superstardom in the video above.
After the video, catch up on more Billboard Explains videos and learn about Peso Pluma and the Mexican music boom, the role record labels play, origins of hip-hop, how Beyoncé arrived at Renaissance, the evolution of girl groups, BBMAs, NFTs, SXSW, the magic of boy bands, American Music Awards, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, the Hot 100 chart, how R&B/hip-hop became the biggest genre in the U.S., how festivals book their lineups, Billie Eilish’s formula for success, the history of rap battles, nonbinary awareness in music, the Billboard Music Awards, the Free Britney movement, rise of K-pop in the U.S., why Taylor Swift is re-recording her first six albums, the boom of hit all-female collaborations, how Grammy nominees and winners are chosen, why songwriters are selling their publishing catalogs, how the Super Bowl halftime show is booked and more.
