After dropping a procession of pop-tastic singles, Tate McRae’s new album So Close To What has officially arrived.
Listen to Tate McRae Radio on the free Audacy app
The 15-track project features previously released viral singles “It’s ok I’m ok,” “2 Hands,” and “Sports Car,” 11 other never-heard-before tracks, and two collabs, one with Flo Milli titled “Bloodonmyhands,” and another with her boyfriend, The Kid LAROI titled, “I Know Love.” The latter of which, Tate admitted, had her stressin’.
While sampling the romantic team-up during a recent listening party, Tate shared, “It was a really funny process, because me and Laroi have never really, like, taken each other seriously,” she said laughing. “You know when you’re in a relationship and you sing around each other, but you don’t really, like, sing? So it was a little stressful being in the studio singing and writing in front of him, but it was a cool experience to watch him in his process.”
Ahead of it’s drop, Tate sat down with Rolling Stone to chat about her brand new album, which she revealed she unintentionally began working on shortly after Think Later dropped.
“Even though it’s work, writing feels like my safe space,” she explained, “The stable part of my life is when I’m able to talk about my feelings. So, I feel like amidst how crazy the year was on tour, it actually was nice to come home and keep writing about my perspective on where I was at in life.”
Writing an entire album wasn’t Tate’s original goal, she initially wanted to have a have a fresh new song to debut during her headlining date at Madison Square Garden last August. Which is exactly what she did with, “It’s ok I’m ok,” a song she started working on nearly one year earlier.
As for the rest of the album, Tate revealed that came together this winter, while working and collaborating with the likes of Ryan Tedder, Grant Boutin, Emil Haynie, Lostboy, and as well as Amy Allen and Julia Michaels, both of whom are legendary hitmakers in their own rights.
“They are two of the most incredible women I’ve ever met and are some of the best songwriters I’ve ever been with,” McRae gushes. “It’s honestly just so incredible to gain knowledge from them in songwriting and be around them. It’s so fun to also get another girl’s perspective on moments in a life that can feel so confusing.”
Conceptually focused on the confusing parts of her last year growing up amid becoming more famous than ever before, McRae’s album title, So Close To What, pulls from the idea of feeling as though she needs to have it all figured out, but not knowing exactly why.
“I kept coming across this concept of being like, ‘Well, what are we working towards? What is the goal of this? Because if I keep setting these goals, and then you get to a point in your life and you’re still not satisfied with yourself. When is the moment that you’re satisfied?’ This a never ending loop that I’ve created for myself,” Tate expressed. So she used those big existential questions as starting points for all her songs.
Like on the track “Purple Lace Bra,” which she wrote with Allen, about “the beautiful yet harsh reality of being a woman.” And on “Nostalgia,” in which she considers the inability to be present in life and feeling like it’s all passing you by.
“One of my favorite lines in that record was ‘And I manifested you would leave / So the day you did I had you beat / Three steps ahead of everything,’” Tate told RS. “It captured the [whole] album and feeling that you’re putting up this guard and protecting yourself from getting hurt in the future. It’s a way of not being present in life and not living in the moment because you’re just in fight or flight mode, constantly trying not to hurt yourself.”
For more from her chat with Rolling Stone — click HERE.
Listen to Tate’s new album, So Close to What, from start to finish below.
Related
