Tate McRae

At just 18 years old, it would be easy to categorise Tate McRae’s rise to the top of the charts as meteoric. Her career has all the trappings of the archetypal overnight Gen Z pop star: she got her first taste of fame on a reality TV show, launched her music career with a YouTube video and had her first hit thanks to a TikTok trend that meant millions of users featured the track in their videos. But speaking to marie claire from a tour bus gliding down a highway somewhere in North Carolina, it’s clear the Canadian dancer-turned-singer-songwriter’s success is the culmination of more than a decade of hard work, ever since she was eight years old and told her dance teacher (who also happened to be her mum), “I want you to make me as good as I can be.”

At 13, McRae high-kicked her way into the public consciousness on So You Think You Can Dance, but soon became more famous for her intimate and raw piano ballads than her pirouette. Still, it wasn’t until 2020 that McRae blew up, when her melancholy hit “You Broke Me First” cracked the Billboard Hot 100 – an experience she describes as bittersweet. “That was my first-ever song that really connected with people and I wasn’t able to experience any of it because

I was at home in lockdown.”

The teenager’s eyes sparkle as she describes the sensation of finally hearing 40,000 people scream back her lyrics at her. “It’s one of the most fulfilling feelings ever.” It’s a high she will be chasing for the rest of the year – and maybe the rest of her life – as she releases her debut album and embarks on her first headline tour before joining fellow Canadian Shawn Mendes on the road later this year. “Creating an album is very stressful, but it all feels worth it when you get to perform.”