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“Sad girl bit got a little boring” with Tate Mcrae’s new album, “So Close To What,” being the complete opposite of sad and slow. “So Close To What” brings out a new side of McRae’s music that we hadn’t seen much of before–her confident and powerful side.
As McRae has grown and matured over the years, so has her music. From “i used to think i could fly” with many sad, slow songs, to “THINK LATER” with a mix of both upbeat and melancholy tunes, “So Close To What” is, as fans call it, her full blown Tatiana phase. Tatiana is McRae’s alter-ego. McRae has talked about this alter-ego as someone that only comes out while she’s performing.
McRae teased her new album during her “THINK LATER” world tour, dropping the songs “It’s ok I’m ok” on Sep. 12, 2024 and “2 hands” on Nov. 14, 2024. The final song she dropped before the official release of her new album was “Sports car,” which was released on Jan. 24. The songs made fans go crazy over her new “Tatiana” era since each of these songs were bold and definitely made a statement.
“So Close To What” was officially released on Feb. 21. McRae surprised fans by releasing a new version of “So Close To What” on Feb. 24, with the bonus track “Siren sounds.” Since then McRae has made it to the No. 1 spots on the Billboard 200 chart and on the Artist 100 chart. All in all, fans fell in love with this album and McRae gained popularity, from being a small youtuber to now having almost 50,000,000 loyal listeners on Spotify.
The album starts off with a bang as “Miss possessive” is the introduction song to the album. Like the singles she released prior to the official release of “So Close To What,” “Miss possessive” has the same bold vibe, heavy beat, and even stars Sydney Sweeney, who says the first words of the album: “No seriously, get your hands off my man.”
However, although at a first glance McRae’s new album seems all fun and sassy, there are deeper meanings woven into the lyrics of each song.
Starting with the overarching theme of the toxic side of being in love, songs like “Revolving door,” “Greenlight,” “Signs,” and “Dear god,” have lyrics about how love is affecting McRae. In “Revolving door,” McRae talks about how she wants to leave this person in the past, but she “keep[s] comin’ back like a revolvin’ door.” The bridge of this song is my favorite part because her voice and the tune is so addicting to listen to. She sings “Change my mind so much it’s exhaustin’, I still think ’bout that night out in Boston, I’m more hurt than I would admit.” In “THINK LATER,” McRae also mentions Boston saying “Met you at a night out in Boston,” which ties the two albums together in a unique way.
“Dear god” is one of my favorites on the album because of the addictive beat and the amazing outro. The song also talks about McRae trying to move on and wanting to erase her past relationship from her mind but she can’t.
This album has a special element that her other two albums didn’t have: guest singers. “bloodonmyhands” stars Flo. Milli and “I know love” stars The KID LAROI, who isMcRae’s boyfriend. The couple has been together for (*insert time*) Kid LAROI was McRae’s inspiration behind some of her songs about being in love. I love how McRae has started to create songs with different artists, and I can’t wait to see who she invites to sing with her next. Both of these songs go along with the high energy and beat vibe of the album and are both very fun to listen to.
Two songs that really stood out to me were “Purple lace bra” and “Nostalgia,” both being a little more unique than the rest of the album. At a glance, “Purple lace bra” still has the same powerful beat and confident voice of McRae, however when you really dive into the lyrics, it actually has a pretty sad meaning. Being in a spotlight from an early age, McRae has grown up with the media constantly watching and following her–specifically about her body and sexualizing her. This is an issue that we see a lot amongst many female celebrities since the media loves to constantly comment on the way women look. Lyrics like “I could take it off for you and tell you what I’m going through, ooh ’cause my body positioning determines if you’re listenin” and “You only listen when I’m undressed” show the harsh reality of being a woman and feeling like a man is only interested in your body and nothing else.
“Nostalgia” was also one of my favorites on the album because it was the most similar to her older music. It’s slow and melodic tune really shows off McRae’s voice and I love herslower songs. The lyrics convey the deeper meaning behind the concept of time and how nostalgia doesn’t show up until you lose something.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this album. I’ve been constantly replaying it since it came out. However, the only thing that I wish there were more of are songs like “Nostalgia.” I’m obsessed with McRae’s slower and more emotional songs which is why I wish there were more of them on this album. All in all though, McRae did not disappoint. This album was the perfect kickoff to her new era and as someone who has been following her since her Youtube days, I’m so happy that she’s finally getting the recognition she’s deserved.
