Tate McRae - "So Close to What"

Mar 31, 2025

Tate McRae is one of those ‘next big stars’ you hear about. Her name has been making the rounds with increasing frequency since her third-place run in the thirteenth season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2016. Third place — despite being Canadian, and thus competing with a natural disadvantage on foreign soil.

At the age of thirteen.1

Long before that competition, she was posting dance videos on YouTube. In 2017, using that long-cultivated platform and the momentum from her television appearances, she released a series of videos showcasing songs she had written. The first one, “One Day”, hit 40 million views and was subsequently released as a single. Over the next few years, making music became her primary focus.

By 2020, Elle was calling her “Canada’s answer to Billie Eilish”.

McRae released her debut album, I Used to Think I Could Fly in 2022 to positive reviews and impressive charting positions (especially for a debut). Now, three years later, So Close to What is her third full-length album (her second dropped in 2023). At just 21 years old, she’s still a fresh face, but she’s got a better grasp on what she’s doing, most certainly.

But let’s make one thing clear — she’s not comparable to Billie Eilish in anything except age and album count. McRae’s Dance-Pop style is very energy- and rhythm-focused. They both create Pop music, but, despite being in the same supergenre, the styles couldn’t be more dissimilar.

McRae’s music is incredibly danceable, with a lot of syncopation and really fucking boppy beats. The album starts out incredibly strongly, especially on this front, with “Miss Possessive” and “2 Hands”. Other songs on the album, like “Sports Car”, stand out as absolute bangers.

Others, though, miss the mark. “Revolving Door” and “Bloodonmyhands” are the third and fourth tracks on the album and make me question whether McRae’s charm has already worn off less than ten minutes into the listen. As much energy as the songs have, they also grow a bit stale. They’re all uniformly short, with the longest song hitting just 3:11, and the accompaniment is all synthesized — drum machines and electronic instrumentation. The credits mention keyboard and guitar in various tracks, but you can’t really hear it through the layers of distortion.

The album is really just overproduced, generally speaking. There’s a revolving door of additional writers who have been brought in to support and supplement the songs McRae has written, and that is yet another key difference here; Eilish is still a helpful benchmark.

See, Eilish has one key collaborator/producer — her brother. They know each other. There’s incredible rapport and understanding between them, and the pair of them just mesh really well.

It seems to me that McRae does not yet have a reliable partner in crime. Grant Boutin and Ryan Tedder (of OneRepublic) are returning producers, but I’m not feeling the chemistry here. I think McRae needs somebody stable, who works with her on every song. Sabrina Carpenter’s album last year benefitted from the stability and excellence of Amy Allen.2

And…well, would you look at that…

Allen is a contributor on 6 of the album’s 15 tracks, and I’ll be damned if they aren’t six of the best songs:

1 - “Miss Possessive”
2 - “2 Hands”
6 - “Purple Lace Bra”
8 - “Signs”
11 - “No I’m Not in Love”
12 - “Means I Care”

Julia Michaels is another notable contributor. Her reputation took a bit of a hit after her work with Disney’s Wish, but she’s a capable songstress. Her participation here is mixed, though, with only “Sports Car” being genuinely, completely GOOD. “Dear God” isn’t bad, but it comes off a little awkward; that might be more on McRae than Michaels, though. “Revolving Door” is the only one of Michaels’ three that I genuinely just don’t care for.

While there is no solid throughline for the album, there is a strong message that can be heard through a couple of songs. If you couldn’t tell from the cover, McRae’s music practically brims with sexuality. She doesn’t shy away from risque lyrics — and, frankly, it’s 2025. Pop and Hip-Hop have been running rampant with overt sexual imagery for over two decades now.

But McRae owns it and layers it up with the emphasis that women can be sexual and be so much more than sex toys at the same time. Take “Sports Car”, “2 Hands”, and “Purple Lace Bra” all together, and that’s exactly what you have. While the album as a whole could use more depth, the inclusion of this message, seemingly with no real effort as just a foundational belief, makes you wonder what McRae might be able to achieve if she focused on a concept album. It’s a bit of redemption, but it doesn’t cover up the album’s flaws.

So Close to What, which may be an apt title, is very boppy, and the songs are a lot of fun, but I haven’t enjoyed straight listens to the entire album. These songs might be great in upbeat dance or party mixes, but as an album, I am largely unimpressed.

Rating: Yellow

Tate McRae - "So Close to What"

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