Tate McRae is proof that some pop stars are born this way. The Calgary, Alberta, native appears to have just exploded into our consciousness over the past year or so, but take a dive into the 21-year-old singer’s backstory, and you can see that she’s been laying the groundwork for her chart domination for more than half her life. After starting dance lessons at 6 years old and focusing on her moves over vocals, McRae began entering a series of dance competitions in the U.
S. At 13, she joined the cast of the 13th season of So You Think You Can Dance , coming in third place, making her the highest placing Canadian in the reality show’s history. That led to some sweet follow-up gigs thanks to the dance-centric YouTube channel she launched in 2011, including dancing at a Calgary stop on fellow Canadian Justin Bieber’s 2016 Purpose world tour.
Before pivoting to music, McCrea launched her “Create With Tate” video series in 2017, which morphed into focusing on original songs she’d written, including the sticky ballad “One Day,” which to date has racked up more than 40 million views. Those videos helped McRae land a recording contract with RCA Records in 2019, which released her debut EP, All the Things I Never Said , in January 2020; the collection hit No. 16 on Billboard ‘s Heatseekers albums chart and featured the lead single “Tear Myself Apart,” co-written by Billie Eilish and brother/producer Finneas.
Wasting no time, McRae was back in March 2021 with a .
