Tate McRae releases third album 'So Close To What'

Image: Charlie Denis
Published: 23 February 2025

Tate McRae first came to our collective consciousness in 2020 when her single ‘You Broke Me First’ went viral, ultimately becoming a global top 10 hit that to date has over 1 billion streams on Spotify alone.

In the intervening years, McRae has steadily become one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. in 2022 her debut album I Used To Think I Could Fly hit the top 10 in Australia and the UK and peaked at number 13 on the US charts. In 2023 her career exploded even further with the single ‘Greedy’ becoming a massive global hit, peaking at number 2 in Australia and number 3 in the US and UK and McRae has never looked back.

She has now released her third studio album So Close To What. Working with some of the music industry heaviest hitters, including Ryan Tedder, Julia Michaels, ILYA and Amy Allen, the 15 tracks are an introspective journey of self-discovery, love, desire and nostalgia with McRae successfully blending the intense vulnerability that was a trademark of her earlier work with contemporary pop beats and soundscapes.

Album highlight ‘Purple lace bra’ is a fine example of McRae’s skill at intertwining the melancholy with the upbeat. Lush strings give way to a shuffling, trip hop beat and angelic vocal layers and on the surface it is a song of lust and sex (‘Did my dance on your lap pique your interest?’) yet peel back the layers and it is a heartbreaking story of McRae screaming for attention and respect. ‘Would you hear me more if I whispered in your ear?…You only listen when I'm undressed / Hear what you like and none of the rest’. It is both a plea to a lover but also a judgement on the media and society’s judgement of women’s sexuality.

‘bloodonmyhands’ features Flo Milli and is a fast paced, bubbly pop track with an insistent beat that brings to mind 2000s pop, while ‘I know love’ features another high powered collaboration in the form of The Kid LAROI. A juddering synth forms the backbone for a sweet pop love song that explores the addiction of love and what is almost confusion at how the relationship developed out of a friendship.

‘No I’m not in love’ is almost a companion song to ‘I know love’ with lyrics that see McRae desperately trying to avoid admitting she is in love, even though it is patently clear she is: ‘No I am not in love / I am not thinking 'bout you / Sun's not gonna come up…Sky has never been blue /No, I'm not in love with you.’ Sonically it has a hint of R&B mixed in with electronica and distorted vocals.

‘Means I care’ is another emotionally complex song that has a gentler, softer pop sound than the previous songs on the album with gorgeously muted beats, an infectious ‘na na na’ refrain and a vocal from McRae which leans more into a plaintive, emotive delivery. She sings of ghosting and cutting people off as a sign of affection - the emotions she feels in the relationship overwhelm her so much she has to leave. ‘It's not what I want, it's just all I know,’ she sings.

The biggest sonic outlier though comes at the end of the album with ‘Nostalgia’. A beautiful, acoustic guitar driven pop song, it looks at life and how it can so quickly pass us by because we don’t focus on ourselves and our dreams. ‘I felt like I was living in this fear of the future, and living the future or the past and never ever the present,” McRae said of the song. “I thought it was a great way to finish the album.”

So Close To What solidifies McRae’s place as one of the most important young artists in pop music today. Its soundscape is contemporary and on trend in a way that is almost ahead of the curve, with McRae in many ways defining the sound of pop music in 2025. But it also pays tribute to the music that has come before, most particularly the early 2000s and also shades of the 1980s and 1990s. The searingly open and honest lyrics of her very first releases is still present, but naturally this has evolved into more complex and adult emotions as McRae has grown. An album to enjoy both for its uplifting dance beats as well as its meaningful stories, So Close To What is arguably the first of 2025’s greatest pop albums.

So Close To What is out now via Sony Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.
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Read our six page interview with Tate McRae in issue 12 of Women In Pop magazine.