Tate McRae’s been manifesting this since she was eight

“Tatiana is where I can let my beast unleash!” Tate McRae laughs. Calling in from Los Angeles and dressed in sweatpants and full glam, the singer is referring to her sensual alter-ego. “[She] started off as a joke and then I realised that there is really something that possesses me before I go on stage. As a pretty polite and shy girl from Canada, having that separation is really freeing and it allows me to push myself to do things like film the music video for It’s ok, I’m ok.”

The video features Tate – or rather, Tatiana – strutting through New York in her underwear, getting arrested for public nudity and swinging from scaffolding. Released last year, like much of Tate’s work, it has drawn comparisons to Britney Spears thanks to its sexy, polished pop sound and Timbaland-esque production.

Though she’s been accused of ​“reheating Britney’s nachos” online (brainrot for: ​“she’s doing what Britney did but worse”), there’s an undeniable allure to Tate’s nostalgic sound and capital ​“P” pop star style. And as an artist born in 2003, you can hardly blame her for drawing inspiration from the greats.

Her third album, So Close To What, leans heavily into the golden years of the mid-noughties: tracks such as the temperature-raising Dear God or the club-ready Miss Possessive sound like they could’ve been plucked from the cutting room floor of Blackout or Nelly Furtado’s Loose. Tate’s tune Sports Car, with all its thinly-veiled references to sex and flirtatious basslines, sounds particularly Furtado-esque: it landed alongside a music video that features no vehicles (“that would have been the most cliché thing ever”) but 12 elaborate outfit changes instead. ​“There were archival pieces that I couldn’t even move in,” she jokes, referring to pieces like a 2007 Roberto Cavalli corset and hat. ​“If they’d ripped I’d have been shot!”

It’s been an intense few years for Tate. Aged just 16, her emotional bedroom pop single You Broke Me First went viral in 2020; since then, she’s put out a non-stop string of releases that have catapulted said polite, shy girl from Canada to international fame, an appearance on Saturday Night Live and an 83-show world tour. Still, Tate isn’t completely surprised by this turn of events.

“I’ve had manifestation journals since I was eight-years-old,” she says. ​“When you feel something deep in your gut and you want it, it’s because your future self has it.” Just last year, she jotted down: ​“I’m going to go on SNL this year”. Two months later, there Tate was, singing Amazing Grace on Shane Gillis’ lap. ​“And isn’t that an exciting way to live?” she says – manifesting, that is, not sitting on Gillis’ lap. ​“It’s being like, anything is possible and the future is open.”

We see plenty of Tatiana on-stage. Does she ever make an appearance off-stage?

Sometimes at the club at 1am. She’ll come up and I’m like, ​“Go to bed!”

What songs remind you of your childhood?

Very sad, acoustic songs, like Green Day’s Good Riddance. I remember my parents would make me make slideshows for our birthdays with that song in the back. It would look like someone died!

What’s the best dating app opener?

I’ve never really done the dating app thing. I did it once for about a month, and I hated it. Even just prepping a profile is so weird to me. I feel like the people that just keep it simple and are a little sarcastic are good – nothing too gloaty or cocky.

Dancing in private, dancing in public, or dancing on the table?

All three.

What’s the best way to exit a conversation politely?

The one I always go to is, ​“Oh shit, I need to go tell someone something and then I’ll be right back!” You’ve got to keep it as vague as possible.

If you were on a game show, what would be your entrance song?

Promiscuous Girl by Nelly Furtado.

Who would play you in a movie?

Dakota Johnson, just because I think she’s so good and really funny. That’s what I want my personality to be like.

What’s the best way to implement a phone detox?

Deleting apps and moving your charger across the room.

When’s the last time you fell over?

I fall over every day. I trip over everything in my house.

How do you apply perfume?

Three [spritzes] on the clavicle, each wrist, the back of my hair and that’s it.

What should we always remember?

We should always remember to be kind and empathetic, and always try to look at things from the other person’s perspective.