Born and raised in Calgary, Tate McRae rose to fame as a dancer - her mom was a dance instructor and Tate became her star student. Dance earned her a following that she then introduced to her music. She became a bona fide pop star in 2023 at age 20 when she landed a huge hit with "
Greedy."
McRae wanted to be a performer since she was a toddler. "I had the most obnoxious personality when I was super young, I don't even know how my parents dealt with me,"
she recalled to Notion. "I remember I'd have my plastic mic, blue eyeliner all over my face, a cowboy hat and sparkly outfit - and I'd stand on top of the table like, 'Watch me, I'm performing for you!'"
When she was 4 years old, McRae relocated with her family to Oman because of her father's job. During their three-year stay, her mother taught dance lessons in the new location. After returning to Canada, Tate began to train intensively in dance.
McRae's dance training expanded to encompass various styles, including ballet, jazz, and contemporary. She attended the prestigious School of Alberta Ballet, the training school for the Alberta Ballet Company, and trained at YYC Dance Project, a dance company owned by her mother. She filled her free time with competitions and galas.
McRae's breakthrough came at the age of 13 when she became the first Canadian finalist on the American reality TV show
So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation. She stunned judges during her audition with
a backwards walkover and eventually came in third.
When she won Best Female Dancer at the 2018 Dance Awards in Las Vegas, it gave McRae wins in all three age categories: Mini (2013), Junior (2015) and Teen (2018).
In June 2016, the 13-year-old McRae joined Justin Bieber onstage during his performance of "
Children" when he brought his Purpose Tour to her hometown of Calgary. She was later invited by Demi Lovato to join her VMAs rehearsal. The exposure to such high-profile pop stars inspired McRae to start a weekly YouTube series,
Create With Tate, in fall 2017, where every Friday she shared new choreography.
After three successful videos, McRae hit a snag when footage of her latest self-choreographed routine got damaged. So, she decided to try something new. "I was like, 'I'm not not going to post tonight,'"
she recalled to Billboard. "So, I went in my room for 20 minutes, wrote this awful song - my parents were like, 'Do not release this' - and it kind of went viral."
From then on, McRae focused on showcasing original songs she wrote and recorded in her bedroom. A year later, she had 2.1 million subscribers and 185 million video views.
Tate McRae's debut single, "
One Day," almost didn't happen. She wrote the piano ballad in about an hour on what she called her "dinky little piano," but when she played it for her parents, they told her it was "god awful" and begged her not to post it. She ignored their advice, uploaded the video anyway, and it quickly gained traction online. The lovelorn song about a crush ended up landing her a record deal with RCA, proof that sometimes teenage melodrama can rewrite the course of a career.
McRae's second EP,
Too Young to Be Sad, was the most streamed EP by a female artist on Spotify in 2021. The EP includes her international breakthrough single, "
You Broke Me First." That year she was the youngest musician featured on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list.
Tate McRae is a private person who enjoys hanging out with her girl pals or curling up on her couch at home, but she has a tour persona, Tatiana,
whom she describes as "ballsy, so loud and obnoxious."
Speaking with Ryan Seacrest, Tate McRae shared that her brain "takes a sec to turn on" in the mornings, as she's definitely a night owl. After performing late shows, which typically end around 10:30 p.m., she often stays mentally wired until 4 a.m. She's physically exhausted, but her mind remains alert for hours post-show.
During an interview with Audacy, Tate McRae revealed that she nearly considered changing her name to "Tatiana" before pursuing music professionally. Her mother had always wanted to be named Tatiana, and Tate felt a strong connection to that name. Ultimately, she stuck with her real name, feeling it was a good fit.
Despite being a trained dancer, Tate McRae kept her singing and dancing separate for years. It wasn't until her 2023 tour that she finally incorporated dance into her performances, describing it as a transformative experience where she felt like she stepped into an "alter ego" on stage.
Tate McRae told Z100 New York that when she gets time to relax, she loves "couch rotting" and binge-watching TV.
While writing a song, McRae tunes into the beat and drums to figure out how to move to it. But with the lyrics, it's all about being emotionally driven rather than thinking about dance moves. Even though she's a dancer, she won't let choreography dictate the essence of the song.
Her life is documented on her YouTube channel, starting with a 2011 post of her
singing a song she wrote when she was 7. These early videos were mostly of her dance performances, but she started producing her own in 2017 when she was 14. She kept the same YouTube channel even after becoming a superstar.
Her fans are called (of course) Tater Tots.
