Live Show Review: Tate McRae
Review by Alyssa Macaluso
For many musicians, playing venues in New York City represents a milestone in their careers. For up-and-coming Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae, performing on the Irving Plaza stage in lower Manhattan on March 30 was a manifestation of this dream.
McRae is something of a unicorn — both an extremely talented vocalist with a powerful voice that she uses for ballads and upbeat pieces alike and a celebrated dancer, placing third on the competition show So You Think You Can Dance at only 13 years old, among many other awards.
But McRae’s allure largely lies in her gentle voice, which spins stories imbued with vulnerability and riddled with angst, as enchanting as they are relatable. In her songs, listeners are transported to experiences in their own lives of heartbreak, fake friends, and complicated love. But, instead of wallowing in the despair of dealing with these challenges, McRae acknowledges the pain and pushes forward — often, quite literally, through punchy dance numbers that accompany a number of her upbeat songs.
photo credit: nadja aumueller
The barricades containing throngs of fans — many of which were around McRae’s age (18) or younger — and several slightly disgruntled parents, stretched down the block and out of sight around the corner, and more were arriving en masse in Ubers and limousine vans. Though it was a Wednesday night, a time of the week often marked by exhaustion, the crowd’s energy was palpable and electrified the entire block.
GAYLE and Mimi Webb, the openers for McRae, had no trouble building off of the excited crowd. They each played for approximately 20 minutes, covering about five of their songs. GAYLE, known largely for her song “abcdefu,” brought an incredible vulnerability to the stage. Standing with just an electric guitar in a gray-blue cardigan and singing her heart out, the 17-year-old naturally bonded with the audience, many of whom were her peers. At one point, GAYLE asked the crowd if they would like to hear a joke (to overwhelming cheers) and launched into a knock-knock joke that answered the question “who’s there?” with “not my dad,” a response that elicited both chuckles and groans from the crowd. GAYLE also filmed a TikTok with the crowd and invited them to DM her on Instagram if they want to say hi.
Mimi Webb, an English singer-songwriter, was the assertive counterpart to GAYLE’s nervous vulnerability. Exhibiting a cheerleader-like energy in her white tennis skirt and longsleeved white mesh top, Webb made use of the whole stage with her big movements to tunes that did not shy away from using a bass that I could feel in my bones. Her set riled the crowd for Tate McRae’s entrance — even the techie in the wings of the stage was bobbing his head to her beats.
The moments before McRae took the stage were tense. Every time a crew member moved a piece of equipment or a band member took their place, the crowd erupted into premature screams of excitement. As 9:30 drew nearer and the giant “T8” toward the back of the stage began to emit a soft, royal blue light, the throng pressed closer to the barricades, phones at the ready, eager to get the first glimpse of McRae. A drumroll sent the crowd into a frenzy that briefly died down when she delayed her appearance once more.
McRae didn’t hold the crowd in suspense for much longer, though, bursting onto the stage in an explosion of sound and light with two backup dancers to kick off the show “stupid,” from her debut EP “All the Things I Never Said” (2020). Clad in a white satin bra and red flowy pants with maroon pockets, McRae danced across the stage, working the already raucous crowd into an even greater frenzy.
After her first song and a brief welcome, McRae moved into two of her slower but still upbeat songs, “r u ok” and “happy face,” from her 2021 EP “Too Young to Be Sad” and her 2020 EP “All the Things I Never Said,” respectively. The crowd heartily sang along to both as McRae cupped the microphone in center stage and shelved her dance moves until her next song, “all my friends are fake,” which is also from her “Too Young to Be Sad” EP.
Before leaping back into the forceful track “all my friends are fake,” McRae paused and posed the question to the crowd “Does anyone in here have fake friends?” which elicited many nervous looks among the teenager friend groups and an enthuasiastic but hesitant chorus of yeses. The moment of awkwardness was soon forgotten, however, as McRae and her backup dancers wowed the crowd with their ultra-synchonized moves, especially during the musical interludes in “all my friends are fake” and the next song in the setlist, “bad ones,” off of her most recent album.
photo credit: nadja aumueller
After the energy of “bad ones,” McRae took a seat on the edge of the stage to share a story about the first song she wrote — and the one that launched her music career — “One Day,” which she published on YouTube in 2017, when she was just 14 years old. According to McRae, her parents warned her against publishing the song online since it was “too emo”; but, McRae being the determined personality she is, didn’t listen to them and published it anyway.
“One Day” was one of my favorite songs McRae performed all night. Though the song allows her talented to voice to shine through, I appreciated this song the most because it embodies emotions that withstand the testament of time. The Tate of 14 related to this song as much as the Tate of today does — and as much as her fans do. Even the parents who had likely grudginly agreed to accompany their much more enthusiastic teens were swaying the crowd during the ballad. As the song came to a close and McRae stood back up, she touched her cheeks, possibly brushing away tears — I know I was certainly close to letting a few escape myself, though in all fairness, it could have also been sweat.
The next song, “that way” from her 2020 EP, was also a ballad, but McRae picked up the energy again with stellar dance moves during “You,” the collaboration she released with Troye Sivan and Regard in 2021. “You” is one of my favorite songs, but to see it performed live and paired with McRae’s impeccable dance moves was electrifying. She and her backup dancers seemed to act as one unit, completely in unison.
McRae performed a beautiful cover of a song that she said she constantly relates to, “Breakeven” by The Script, before moving into two of her more ballad-like songs, “wish i loved you in 90s” off her 2021 EP and “feel like shit,” a single she released in 2021. After “wish i loved you in the 90s,” a fan near the front caught McRae’s attention and presented her with a bejeweled white cowboy hat with a picture of McRae on the front, an inside joke with the fanbase after McRae tweeted a request for “someone (to) bring me a cowboy hat when i come to nashville,” an upcoming show on her North American tour, and possibly a new staple in her wardrobe after her recent shows in Dallas, Texas. McRae obligingly adorned the hat for “feel like shit.”
Before launching into “feel like shit,” McRae shared another story about the inception of this song. After graduating from high school earlier in 2021, McRae was able to focus more on her music. However, she was in a rut when she tried to go to the studio in November to write because she was dealing with her first real heartbreak. As she divulged this, there was a chorus of sympathetic “ohs” from the crowd; I like to thing that they sang a little louder during this song to reassure McRae of their presence and support.
photo credit: nadja aumueller
At this point, McRae’s set was coming to a close, but she didn’t let the energy die. McRae launched into “rubberband,” a snappy song off “Too Young to Be Sad” that had the crowd yelling the lyrics along with her as the backup dancers returned to add perfectly timed moves to the beat. The penultimate song and McRae’s recent single, “she’s all i wanna be” (2022), had the floor shaking with as the crowd jumped and shouted in protest agains the “Stupid boy makin’ me so sad / Didn’t think you could change this fast.”
McRae and the dancers made a sudden exit after “she’s all i wanna be,” and the anguished cries of crowd followed them. McRae didn’t make them wait long, however, coming back out to perform her most popular song, “you broke me first,” a song from her 2021 EP that quickly topped the charts thanks to its popularity on TikTok. Though fans had been calling her to perform “chaotic,” her newest single, they still enthusiastically sang along to “you broke me first.” She closed the show with a heartfelt “Thank you guys — you’re my everything!” and created a heart with her hands, a sign that fans had held up to her during some of the more vulnerable songs earlier in the night.
I will admit, I was not a die-hard Tate McRae fan before this concert. I had listened to some of her music, as alt-pop is the genre I listen to most, but her performance converted me completely. It was an experience I’ve had with few other artists — in a span of an hour and change, McRae led the crowd through some of her most vulnerable moments with extreme grace and resilience. Though there were quite a few shifts in the energy throughout the show, McRae’s unquestionable love of performing, her confidence palpable in the way she strode across the stage and flicked her long hair over her shoulder, were mesmerizing. I would be lying if I said I didn’t consider going a second night.
McRae, at only 18, is already making waves in an incredibly competitive industry. If she’s accomplished this much already, I can’t wait to see what’s next.
set list:
“stupid”
“r u ok”
“happy face”
“all my friends are fake”
“Bad Ones”
“One Day”
“that way”
“You”
“Breakeven”
“wish i loved you in 90s”
“feel like shit”
“rubberband”
“she’s all i wanna be”
“you broke me first”
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