Tate McRae never gets close to what she’s aiming for
Album Review: Tate McRae’s ‘So Close to What’
Review: Everything sounds too similar on Tate McRae’s sophomore album.
Tate McRae, the Canadian dancer-turned-singer, has been heavily compared to Britney Spears leading up to the release of her sophomore LP So Close to What. When examining McRae’s choreography on stage, the comparison makes sense. But the similarities are lacking when reviewing the songs on McRae’s latest release.
The tracks on So Close to What blend together, each fairly non-distinct. Though one of the singles for this album landed on the Billboard Hot 100 list (“It’s ok I’m ok,” peaking at number 20), nothing on the record lives up to McRae’s 2023 hit “Greedy.” It’s not that any of the songs are bad, they’re just boring.
Nearly every song follows a formula: add one techno sound, layer in a real instrument, let that marinate for a few seconds, and then begin the song. Sometimes, hands clapping are layered with synth, as on the opening track “Miss possessive.” On “Purple lace bra,” a full strings section is underlaid with bizarre music production sounds. Could it be the sound of cawing crows? Or perhaps pots and pans banging together? It’s unclear. Once McRae’s vocals come in, a synthesized version of the string intro accompanies her.
Two songs stand out among the rest of the album: “Revolving door” and “bloodonmyhands (feat. Flo Milli).” “Revolving door” is driven by a propulsive beat as McRae describes a relationship she can’t seem to quit. At the very least, it’s not a metaphor I’ve heard much in music before. Also, the bridge rhymes “exhaustin’” with “Boston,” which is one of the album’s more clever uses of wordplay.
“Bloodonmyhands” is not a particularly unique or groundbreaking song, but listening to it feels like a sugar rush. The addition of Flo Milli also aids in breaking up the formulaic feeling of most of the record, with the music production matching Milli’s energy. Milli’s opening line “I got a new man to please, fallin’ for you is a damn disease” immediately hooks listeners in. It also works in favor of “bloodonmyhands” that the other collaboration on the album, “I know love,” is incredibly boring and includes a dismal rap feature.
“I know love” features McRae’s current boyfriend The Kid LAROI delivering perhaps the laziest verse of the year. “We started off friends, how we end up here?/ I don’t know, but I don’t see no problems/ We started off friends, how you end up here next to me?” Dare I say publicly that white boys should stop rapping? Because they should. Flo Milli should have just done a second feature on this song and saved listeners’ ears the trouble.
Perhaps the biggest letdown of the album is songwriter Amy Allen’s work fading into the background. Allen, who became the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical in early February, worked on six songs on this record. Between the overwhelmingly bland production and McRae’s lack of diction, there is no trace of the Allen from “Espresso” or “Please Please Please.”
The best track Allen worked on is the album’s second single “2 hands,” with an addictive chorus that begs McRae’s lover to put their two hands on her. This is the Amy Allen who worked on “Greedy.” But then there are the other songs, like “Signs,” which rhymes “pissed” with “this.” Though Allen is not the sole songwriter on any of the tracks listed, a songwriter who can deftly go from working on “Matilda” by Harry Styles to “Taste” by Sabrina Carpenter can surely produce better work.
Though some songs from this album will likely chart, it’s nothing to write home about. If you are seeking Gen Z pop, McRae’s friend Olivia Rodrigo will do just fine.