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Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA – A little bit over a year ago, I heard a few people referring to Tate McRae as the “Britney Spears of this generation.”
But as an avid music listener and longtime fan of McRae’s work – as much as I love her music – I was unconvinced by this statement.
Does McRae have the makings of what could be the next main pop girl? She has an alter ego (Tatiana), a fan moniker (Tater Tots) and her streaming numbers are excellent, totalling a whopping 10.5 billion streams. She has a sold-out tour at only 21.
On paper, she’s the perfect model of a megastar, but despite these achievements, she still seems to lack the originality that truly allows her to shine alongside her musical counterparts.
McRae’s first album, I Used To Think I Could Fly, features a soft alt pop sound with a combination of rock and electronic accents.
The album is introspective, toying with themes of heartbreak, self-loathing, and bitterness. It is a solid debut album highlighting McRae’s vocal capability and artistic license. It does, though, take clear influence from other artists.
It has the moody ballads of Billie Eilish and pop-punk inspired teen angst anthems by Olivia Rodrigo, like “She’s All I Wanna be.” It also tends to fall flat with regards to lyricism, which often weakens the tracks’ meaningfulness.
McRae’s sophomore album Think Later replaces her bedroom pop ballads with a more upbeat club sound. She also trades her signature sad girl persona with a more edgy, fierce personality who she refers to as “Tatiana.”
The album serves as a transitional work, showing the change from an upcoming performer to this generation’s next big star.
The standout single on the album, “Greedy,” embodies McRae’s new sassy, fierce persona and the idea of self empowerment, a concept recent to her music.
The single catapulted McRae into a new sphere of stardom, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning several nominations for both BRITS, MTV VMA awards and more. This marked the start of McRae’s entry into the limelight.
So Close To What is definitely McRae’s most mature album so far.
The album starts off with “Miss Possessive,” a 2000s inspired pop record with a catchy hook detailing McRae’s desire to keep her partner all to herself and for other people to leave their relationship alone. The track is a strong start to the album with good production and lyricism, however McRae’s presence in the track is lackluster, offering little to the song.
The track “bloodonmyhands” is a decent song that embraces the idea of moving on and letting go after a breakup. McRae’s performance here is good, but is easily overshadowed by the feature, Flo Milli, who delivers a stunning verse that makes McRae’s seem tepid in comparison.
The main single of the album, “Sports Car,” is a sultry 2000s club banger that mimics the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons.”
Despite the record’s catchy hook and good production, the track’s lyricism feels slightly dated and occasionally surface level. The lack of vocal presence is once again prevalent in the track.
The album is undoubtedly stronger than its predecessors and is overall a good reflection of McRae’s growth as an artist but it still manages to feel inauthentic. It has an overreliance on inspiration from previous decades and other artists such as Spears – likely a deliberate move to draw a comparison between the two.
While a bit of inspiration is always appreciated, its overuse leaves little room for McRae’s own sound or anything particularly new, which often leaves some moments in the album sounding tedious.
The record has strong singles and a few other good tracks. “Sports Car” and “It’s OK I’m OK” are good club hits, but still lack McRae’s presence.
I struggle to see the Spears comparisons. McRae is still trying to establish a distinct musical identity. She does seem to be on the right path to stardom and there is likely a bright future for her as an artist and performer.
If she leans further into her own artistic voice and refines herself beyond familiar influences, she has the potential to craft something original. I’m excited to see how that could be done in her next project but for now she remains an artist who makes generic pop music.
M. M. Sunkutu is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
