After a stellar 2024 for pop music, with artists such as Taylor Swift and Charli XCX touring, Sabrina Carpenter dropping hit songs and witnessing the rise of Chappell Roan, people were worried 2025 would have nothing in store. But soon enough, Tate McRae announced she would drop her third studio album, So Close to What, followed by an arena tour.
Who is Tate McRae?
Tate McRae is not new to the industry. Already on her third album in 4 years, she has been playing the game for a long time, ever since 2017.
But way before that, she has gained popularity by being a finalist on America’s So You Think You Can Dance, in 2016. Her debut song, One Day and new-found fame helped her sign with RCA Records. In 2021, she put out Too Young to Be Sad. It that was the most streamed female EP of the year, thanks to the success of You Broke Me first.
TikTok has played a crucial role in Tate’s rise to fame. In 2022 we saw our for you pages flooded by lip-syncs to her She’s All I Wanna Be. And yet again, in 2023 her lead single, Greedy, off her second studio album, Think Later, took the platform by storm. It helped her earn a top five debut in several countries.
So Close to What
While still touring for the Think Later era, Tate McRae started promoting the new album to come, by releasing the first single, It’s Ok I’m Ok. The song leans heavily on the Nelly Furtado, Timbaland vibe. It comes with a pretty promiscuous video, that adds up to the early 2000s vibes, when pop artists were not afraid to make a statement.
As the song was first teased on tour, the choreography on stage was included in the video and it also became a marketing tool for the release of both It’s Ok I’m Ok and the album, So Close to What. The amount of user generated content online, trying to recreate the moves in the music video contributed to the success of the song.
The next step in the launch of the album was releasing the second lead single, 2 Hands. Once again, after putting out a snippet of the song and it becoming viral, fans got the date they could start streaming it. An even bigger success than the previous single, 2 Hands peaked on most charts within the Top 50. That was the perfect time to announce So Close to What, Tate’s third studio album that is set to come out tomorrow, the 21stof February.
The tracklist
A week ago, the official tracklist got released, even though it was teased a while back. Besides the three singles already out (It’s Ok I’m Ok, 2 Hands, Sports Car), there are going to be another 12 songs for a total of around 40 minutes. Tate McRae has put out snippets of many other tracks from the album such as Dear God and Revolving Door, to build anticipation.
The one song fans are most excited though, is I know Love, the feature with Kid Laroi, Tate’s boyfriend. From all of the bits online, fans are speculating that the album will steer away from McRae’s old vibe that was on the sad side and that the overall feel of the album is going to be heavily reminiscent of 2000s pop.
With the singer also starting her newest arena tour, the Miss Possessive Tour, the hype created around the record has helped with the ticket sales. Hence, it’s not strange that her and her team announced they were adding 22 new dates to the original ones.
Staying relevant
It has been an insane year for Tate McRae that has seen her go from touring small venues to sell out arenas. In all this, her music has made her become a household name, but a couple of other things have helped her get to A-list celebrity status.
One thing that her team does best is find partnerships that work with her brand: a young, fun, outspoken singer with incredible dance moves. That’s why, in 2024, a fundamental move has been partnering with Skims, Kim Kardashian’s brand, for one of their campaigns. The collab has benefitted both the lingerie company and Tate McRae since it created a cross-promotional platform for each part of the deal.
Skims gained access to the singer’s young fanbase and Tate McRae gained visibility to the older generations as well. Not only this, but as a dancer as well, Tate’s physique has contributed to the brand’s body positivity advocacy and started a conversation online on the topic. With thousands of girls admiring her muscular legs and abs, it was a statement on not having to starve yourself in order to have a “good-looking” body.
Another great partnership is the more recent one, with Rhode for the launch of their peptide lip shapes. Besides Hailey Bieber and Tate McRae being friends, the collab is genius because of the meaning behind the product.
The lip shapes are supposed to enhance the natural lip, not completely transform it. So having a singer, that has lots of attention to her face and lips, be the image of the campaign is a really good move. Not only that, but also the shade names of the lip shapes are alluding to gymnastics and it creates the perfect bond between the product and Tate McRae as a dancer.
The critique
The biggest problem with Tate’s new album seems to be not knowing which songs to promote and continuously putting out snippets of different ones. Lots of fans have got online to complain about there being confusion over which record the artist is pushing at the moment.
Tate McRae and her team seem to be basing the promotional content of the album on going viral on social media. The complaints about having a chaotic approach are understandable since they have to be juggling with multiple leads at once, as no one can tell what the algorithm is going to push. In spite of that, the fans that got to attend the private listening parties that Spotify and Tate McRae organised these days are saying that the record is going to shock the internet.
After a well-crafted anticipation and with already three hit songs out, there are only a few hours left till So Close to What will be on streaming. Is it really going to be a hit? Is Tate McRae saving the pop industry this year?
Featured image: Instagram.
