{"id":1236825809,"date":"2026-08-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/variety.com\/?p=1236825809"},"modified":"2026-08-03T09:23:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:23:22","slug":"tate-mcrae-interview-relationships-taylor-swift-sourdough-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/music\/features\/tate-mcrae-interview-relationships-taylor-swift-sourdough-bread-1236825809\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming Tate McRae: The Pop Sensation on Navigating Fame, Treating Work Like \u2018a Fantasy\u2019 and Getting Taylor Swift\u2019s \u2018Amazing\u2019 Sourdough Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tIn early June, Tate McRae celebrated her recent move to New York by catching Knicks fever. It was less than a year since she relocated from Los Angeles, where she kick-started her career as music\u2019s next Main Pop Girl, yet she could feel the electricity coursing through her new city over a potential championship win. So she did what any young celebrity would do: She put on a Knicks T-shirt and headed up to Madison Square Garden to watch Game 4 from a suite with her close friend Hailey Bieber. \u201cI really was the one who jumped on the bandwagon. I was like, \u2018I love New York!\u2019\u201d says McRae with a laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s now a few weeks later \u2014 the late afternoon of the Knicks\u2019 victory parade \u2014 and she\u2019s seated in a conference room of a photo studio overlooking the Flatiron District. On the streets below, vendors are hawking bootleg merchandise as stragglers from the festivities color the sidewalks with blue-and-orange jerseys and hats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\n\n
\n\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Roemer for Variety<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tMcRae, meanwhile, is just trying to blend in. Near the end of the shoot, she glides from room to room, swarmed by her team. Few heads turn despite her tall, unmistakable frame shuffling across the floor. As much as she has been seen these days \u2014 which has been a lot, to the tune of more than a million Tater Tots (her fandom name) at her latest tour \u2014 she\u2019s still unsure how to deal with the glare of thousands of iPhones. She\u2019s figuring herself out, like any 23-year-old would, by clinging to her journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cYou\u2019ve gotta learn yourself. You have to write down, \u2018What are my favorite songs? What are my favorite colors? What are my favorite references? What are my favorite movies?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThat, I think, shapes your identity and hopefully comes across through you as the vessel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s been about seven months since she concluded her \u201cMiss Possessive\u201d tour, an 88-date worldwide trek that grossed more than $100 million, and she\u2019s finally coming back down to earth. The experience was unparalleled for anyone her age, bringing the kind of attention that sends our best and brightest stars into spectacular spirals. (Think Britney Spears, with whom she\u2019s endlessly compared.) For McRae, the concerts were so overwhelming that she can\u2019t even recall the finale at Los Angeles\u2019 Kia Forum in November. When asked about her electric piano not cooperating as she stood behind the keyboard that night, she draws a blank: \u201cI have early signs of dementia, I think, because I can\u2019t remember anything that\u2019s ever happened to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tTo the world, McRae is a strong, fearless entertainer, a triple threat who can pen songs that recall the fizzy pop of the early aughts and bring them to life as a ferocious singer and dancer. But in her new home, she\u2019s relishing the cloak of anonymity that only New York can offer. She set up shop in NoHo, frequenting her local coffee shop and going for hot Pilates. She\u2019s read some books \u2014 recommending Sidney Sheldon\u2019s 1982 thriller \u201cMaster of the Game\u201d \u2014 and learned how to cook three things: ground turkey, eggs and sweet potatoes, the latter of which she makes in an air fryer. On some days, she\u2019ll walk through Washington Square Park or talk with random strangers; on others, she\u2019ll log on to Zoom for meetings with her team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tLife is, for now, normal, whatever that means. But that\u2019s about as normal as it can get for a pop star of McRae\u2019s standing. Over the past few years, the Canadian native has risen from a YouTube upstart to what some are christening Gen-Z\u2019s answer to Spears. Her breakthrough sophomore album, 2023\u2019s \u201cThink Later,\u201d was a purposeful shift from introspective balladry to Y2K-era pop, spawning the Nelly Furtado-indebted single \u201cGreedy,\u201d which climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. A little over a year later, McRae hit full throttle with \u201cSo Close to What,\u201d which bowed atop the albums chart in February 2025. Not long after, she scored her first Grammy nomination with the slick \u201cJust Keep Watching\u201d off the \u201cF1: The Movie\u201d soundtrack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAmid it all, McRae\u2019s stock continued to rise in celebrity circles. Following the Grammys, where she came up empty-handed, she put the loss behind her at Charli xcx\u2019s after-party. In May, she made her Met Gala debut in custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin and held hands with Blackpink\u2019s Ros\u00e9 as they stepped into GQ\u2019s post-gala fete. After the Knicks\u2019 historic Game 4 win, McRae and Bieber headed down to the club Zero Bond to hobnob with Sombr, the Haim sisters and Taylor Swift, who had previously sent her a homemade loaf of sourdough bread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\n\n
\n\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Roemer for Variety<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cThe basket smelled amazing,\u201d McRae recalls, leaning forward as though she\u2019s letting me in on a secret. \u201cI don\u2019t know what perfume she wears, but I was like, \u2018She must smell incredible.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn July, Swift invited McRae to attend the wedding of the century at Madison Square Garden, and a few weeks later, McRae was back in Los Angeles to deliver the match ball at the opening of a FIFA World Cup game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cI think she just stands out so distinctly,\u201d says Bieber, who attended husband Justin Bieber\u2019s Skylrk World Cup party with McRae following Spain\u2019s title win on July 19. \u201cYou can\u2019t help but want to listen and watch her. She works her ass off. She\u2019s making a clear mark.\u201d It only helps, adds Bieber in an email, that McRae is gracious with those she chooses to keep company with: \u201cTate is as sweet as they come. I may be biased when I say I love a Canadian\u201d \u2014 like her husband \u2014 \u201cbut I really do. She is salt of the earth, grounded and always fun to be around.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\t\t