ata McRae can pass off as any next door small town girl, except for the fact that she is a rising star with talent and goals in mind to make it big. At just 18, she’s already worked with the likes of Khalid and Troye Sivan, now playing at major festivals as pandemic restrictions are lifted. Following in the footsteps of teen idols of yesteryear, her ascent seems unstoppable. 

McRae is one of the first generation of pop stars who've grown up completely online. From her beginnings as a dancer, to a reality TV contestant, vlogger, singer and now pop star, McRae is on a roll and all set to make it big.

Tate Rosner McRae was born in Calgary, Alberta on 1^st July 2003 to a Canadian father of Scottish descent and a German mother. Due to her father’s work, the family moved over to the Gulf state of Oman where her mother taught dance.

During this period a young McRae attended The American International School in Muscat (TAISM) and along with her mother began recreational dance training at age six. They family moved back to Calgary when McRae was eight years old, where she began to train more intensively in dance and competed with Drewitz Dance Productions. From age 11, she began training in all styles of dance at YYC Dance Project, a dance company owned by her mother, and undergoing ballet training at the School of Alberta Ballet, the training school for the Alberta Ballet Company.

McRae was always surrounded by music her entire life. It was natural for her to take up dancing watching her mother who was a dance teacher. McRae got involved in it so much that later she too started teaching dance and was always around singing and performing around her house. It was while she was doing dance that she got a fondness to take part in reality shows, dreams of being able to sing and dance on stage like her idol Britney Spears. It was something the young girl wanted to make into a reality, to dance with a whole bunch of dancers and put on a huge show and have, like a million albums out.

At the age of 10, McRae served as a voice actress for the ‘Lalaloopsy’ franchise, voicing the part of "Spot Splatter Splash" from the show's inception in 2013 till its conclusion in 2015.

This stint got eyeballs moving to a new dancer who was trying to break in. In 2013 she won the Mini Best Female Dancer at the 2013 Dance Awards in New York City. This award boosted her chance in becoming brand ambassador for the American dance manufacturer Capezio.

Two years later she was awarded a two-week scholarship at the Berlin State Ballet company after winning the silver medal as a soloist and bronze medal for her duet at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix. The same year she was also awarded the Best Female Dancer award at the 2015 Dance Awards this time at the Junior level category.

In June 2016, she danced with fellow Canadian Justin Bieber at the Calgary show of his Purpose World Tour after being chosen from an audition process that selected four kids from each city.

At age of 12, keeping her goals in mind, she took part in the 13^th season (2016) of American television show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, even though she was Canadian which could have dented her chances of winning. While competing as a non-American, she was mentored by American dancer and actress Kathryn McVormick, she advanced further in the competition than any other Canadian in the show's history, placing third on the final episode. Even though she wasn’t America’s favorite dancer, she certainly won the hearts of the Canadians.

McRae kept gaining success wherever she went. She was featured on the cover of Dance Spirit magazine’s April 2017 cover and was also featured in Demi Lovato’s song Tell Me You Love Me. Seeing how passionate she was, Lovato invited the teen singing star to rehearse with her dancers for her performance at the American Music Awards.

McRae once again took part in the 2018 Dance Awards at Las Vegas and to her surprise won for the third time, this time in the "Teen" category, thus making her the first dancer in the competition's history to win in all categories from mini to teen.

While she gave her dance career a shot for the best, her music was also making waves slowly. Since its creation in 2011, McRae's YouTube channel has featured a fairly consistent stream of primarily dance videos, but she was set to change it to her other passion - music.

In 2017 she started "Create With Tate", a video series, focused on showcasing original songs she wrote and recorded in her bedroom.

With her dance taking most of her time, but also paying off well, her first song One Day which she wrote at the age of 14, attracted over 37 million views, prompting her to self-release the song as an independent single. The song was well received by everyone who heard it and hit gold status in Canada, making it the first certification of her career.

McRae continued to upload and release independent singles as part of her "Create With Tate" series. Notable songs include Dear Ex Best Friend which has over 40 million YouTube views and Dear Parents with over 20 million views took her to a level she had never expected to reach. The series led to her being named a YouTube "Artist on the Rise".

Her song One Day meanwhile, caught the attention of record labels and got her a record deal. Following her signing to RCA, McRae announced her debut five track EP ‘All the Things I Never Said’ in December 2019 which was officially released in January 2020. She then embarked on her first headlining tour of Europe and North America with every stop being sold out.

McRae is a huge fan of Billie Ellish and Finneas, and it was a dream come true when she got to work with the duo on the EP's lead single Tear Myself Apart, which was co-written by the American singer and her brother singer – songwriter Finneas O’Connell. The song amassed over 10 million streams by December 2019.

Infact That Way, was re – released in 2021 after going viral on TikTok and has gained over 140 million Spotify streams and counting. The track also charted in the UKand Ireland, becoming her third charting song in the UK and fifth in Ireland. McRae released a remix of That Way with Jeremy Zucker in September, 2021 and January this year the EP had amassed over 420 million streams on Spotify.

McRae's career blew up in January this year when her hit You Broke Me First cracked the Billboard Hot 100.

Since moving to Los Angeles full-time, McRae has been hard at work on writing and recording her debut album between her live performances. McRae’s lyrics are very important to her, they’re legit like a journal, like her diary. With specific events that happen or things that she observes from people, she analyses it, gets her perspective on it, and then writes it down into a song.

While she credits her parents as her biggest supporters, she also has producer Blake Harnage who’s guided her on her music all along the way.

Live gigs might have been put on hold for the past year or two, but Tate has still managed to play a part in major global ceremonies such as the MTV EMA and VMA's, the Juno's and on US night time shows ‘The Tonight Show’.

Ahead of her second five track EP titled ‘Too Young to Be Sad’, McRae also brought out other singles like Vicious featuring American rapper Lil Mosey. The over 17 minute long EP also includes songs like R U OK, which was a sequel to You Broke Me First, Rubberband which revolves around the subject of addiction from a love perspective, describing how snapping a rubber band on your wrist can help a person cope with addiction. The other track is Slower, which was initially released as part of McRae's "Create With Tate" YouTube series and was written when she was 14, Bad Ones was her last track on the EP.

In April 2021 McRae You alongside Regard and Australian pop star Troye Sivan, and in June collaborated with Khalid on Working. Though she couldn’t meet physically to record the pieces due to the corona virus pandemic restrictions, both tracks were recorded virtually.

McRae has been influenced by artists such as Post Malone, The Weeknd, Khalid, while she cites female artists like Zendaya and Dua Lipa as her musical idols with Taylor Swift being her songwriting inspiration. On the dance circuit she looks up to Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake as inspirations for bringing dance into her performances.

In November, 2021, McRae released Feel Like Sh**, the lead single from her debut studio album ‘I Used to Think I Could Fly’ which was released in May 2022, packaged with around 11 to 12 songs.

Let’s keep a watch out for this promising singer – songwriter, who lives life like a normal teenager.

By Verus Ferreira