On the heels of releasing “It’s ok I’m ok,” her latest hit in a procession of many, Tate McRae checked in with Audacy’s Bru to chat all about having fun working on what’s next, her focused studio session behavior that inspired the lyrics to her new bop, the vulnerability of the writing process, and a whole lot more.
Sharing that “creating the world of my next” project is what she’s currently having the most fun with right now, Tate noted, “my next songs and all the music videos and the treatments, I love that part, it’s one of my favorite parts. So, it's been fun to start to carve that world out and see what it looks like.”
Of course, our first introduction to this “new world” arrived earlier this month with the release of “It’s ok, I’m ok,” another banger Tate can add to her ever growing collection.
The track which lyrically assures her ex’s new boo that she’s more than fine with no longer being with a walking red flag, actually “started from a conversation of me being like, 'It's ok I'm ok' - and we were like, 'That would be a crazy pop song,’ Tate previously told Rolling Stone.
That conversation, as she went on to revealto Capital Breakfast's Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby, earlier this month, actually had nothing to do with relationship woes at all. "I have this thing in [music writing] sessions where I just won't eat unless I finish the song. It's honestly just like if I'm in the studio I have to finish the song and then I'll eat my meal, I can't eat in the middle of writing," she explained to the UK radio morning show.
"So then Ilya and Savan would be like, 'Hey do you want food?' and then everyday for like two weeks straight I'd say, 'It's okay, I'm okay’” Tate revealed. "Then we were like, 'We should just put that down as a joke', and then it ended up turning into a song.”
Expanding more on the reasoning for her focused studio session behavior during her chat with Bru, Tate said it’s “because you never know when you're going to crack the song, like you're sitting there sometimes it can be like nine hours before you crack the best idea." In addition to the delayed gratification of a meal, Tate also isn’t a fan of yapping in the studio.
“I mean, a lot of people treat sessions like a yap fest,” McRae said, noting “it’s me and Amy Allen, who's an unbelievable songwriter,” that prefer quiet creative spaces. “She did ‘Greedy’ with me, and she's in the majority of my album… Me and her have the same thing… everyone yaps around us and we're just laser focused.”
Sharing why her new track didn’t make the cut for her sophomore album, Think Later, Tate said, “I think like the beat and how it sounded to me, wasn't the sonic of the last album. I don't think I was ready to feel, or do a chorus like that, or even just make a song like that until this year. I was waiting for that kind of beat,” she added. “I needed to do the right video with it, the right performance with it.”
Reflecting on how crazy it is that it’s been a year since “Greedy” and Think Later came out, Tate expressed, “this year has flown by so fast… like that feels like literally yesterday.”
“Well, it's a really vulnerable process, being in the studio. And the people around you affects your product the most,” Tate admitted. “Because I'm a pretty private person. Like I usually walk in and I’ll summarize everything into like five words… I will not spill like my whole life, you know. I'm so not like that, where I would just completely open up to people. But if I get really comfortable, then I want to actually talk about the real stuff. So it just takes time to find those people that you gel with," she says of finding the right team. "And also like the production of it too… you have to trust who you're in the room with and that they're going to make it sound like how you want it to.”
Tate also talked about having an athletes mindset to her career, the performer persona that takes over when she’s onstage, and when IRL Tate sometimes breaks through.
Tate, who is part of the impressive Audacy We Can Survive 2024 lineup alongside Justin Timberlake, Benson Boone, Khalid, New Kids On The Block and Isabel LaRosa, taking place this weekend, Saturday, September 28, 2024 at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, also opened up about the topic of mental health. As We Can Survive continues Audacy’s mission to support mental health via I’m Listening and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) -- because talk has the power to save lives.
Sharing what she does when she needs a mental health break, because sometimes being a pop star can be hard, Tate revealed, “Actually, the other day, I literally walked outside and sat in the grass. I was like, I need to realize that — number one thing always is just like finding gratitude in every situation. If you're not happy or something is stressing you out, you have to look around and realize the things that you do have… Because I think as people, we just get into this flow of always wanting more, and always wanting to look for the next thing, and compare, and sometimes you forget that our life is very blessed.”
“Whenever I get into a spot where I get stuck, I always need to be like, ‘Ok, you need to step out of your head and realize that you're really lucky to be in the position that you're in…' and I think that it always puts things into perspective for me.” Circling back, saying, “You really do have to touch the grass sometimes… And realize that your phone isn't a real thing.”
After performing on the stateside We Can Survive stage, next Tate is headed to Asia for a 4-date addition to her Think Later World Tour. “I have been dying to go to Tokyo for so many years,” McRae mentioned of the bucket list first stop she’ll make, before heading to Singapore, Bangkok, and Manila. “I’m so excited to just look around and see the culture and just be there.”
Discussing the making of the “It’s ok I’m ok” music video, which despite having to “do that strut… so many times in those heels,” was the most fun she had making a music video. “It was like a crazy day, it was a very ambitious day, we got so many outfits and shots in 10 hours.”
Tate also went on to talk about the feeling she gets listening to Country music, and possibly of doing “like a folk country thing at some point… once I no longer want to dance.” As well as, what it was like to perform her headlining tour at Madison Square Garden, bringing out her boyfriend The Kid LAROI for an acoustic performance, which of her songs she thinks would be a good fit to duet with Britney Spears, and more.
To catch it all, check out the entire interview above.
Words by Maia Kedem Interview by Bru
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