Unlocking the Allure of Tate McRae

Culture Study Podcast

Arts, Society & Culture

4.5 • 789 Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tate McRae is one of the most popular artists in the world — but millions of my peers have only the faintest idea of who she is. Alternately, they’re baffled by her. Is she Britney rebooted? Is she talented? What does she mean? Does it matter? After listening to Reanna Cruz guide listeners through McRae’s sound on Switched on Pop, I knew I wanted them to come on the show and work through more of McRae’s image. We talk about her sound, of course, but also consider her through the lens of her Canadianness, her Gen-Z-ness, her ‘organic’ songwriting success on YouTube, and her popular girl vibes.Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/culture and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ZBiotics has a 100% money-back guarantee, so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason they will refund your money, no questions asked.Show Notes:Listen to the episode of Switched on Pop (re: Tate) that made me desperate to have Reanna come on the showReanna on TwitterThe referenced video for Sports Car which is trying to do….somethingPerforming Greedy at the NHL All-Star Game:https://youtu.be/hq64R4RU1msThe goalie pads on the wrong legs on the album cover for Think Later:If you want a sense of McRae’s dancing start at the two-minute mark here:https://youtu.be/cr4wnsLI_XwVery early McRae songwriting:https://youtu.be/pBk0VFLz9_sWe’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:What 2000s pop culture did to women’s understanding of themselvesWhat’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) right now (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)TEXAS Culture, MONTANA Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)Evangelical Summer Camp, past and presentHow/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything UpThe intersection of technology and parentingDark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) hereFor this week’s discussion: What did you learn about Tate McRae in this episode? Or: what still befuddles you?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Anne. Once a month, we pick an episode to make free for everyone. You'll get the whole show, including the Ask An Anything segment, which is usually just for paid subscribers.
0:09.5	Today's question is about how some people seem to have a million cool hobbies, and others can't find time for one.
0:16.3	Other perks for paid subscribers include the discussion threads for each episode, which are really fun and
0:20.8	sometimes kind of spicy, and an ad-free experience. So if you want to support the show and always
0:26.8	get the full episode, head to culturestudypod.substack.com and become a paid subscriber. And if you're
0:33.7	already a paid subscriber, you'll see the ad-free version of this episode show up in your feed separately, the result of some quirks in the publishing process that we're still trying to figure out.
0:42.9	The ad-free version is also where the discussion thread will be.
0:46.2	Okay, thanks, everyone. Enjoy the show.
0:50.6	The artists that we're talking about today on Culture Study Podcast is currently one of the top 50 most listened to artists in the world on Spotify, has not one but two songs in the Spotify Billion Streams Club.
1:05.6	Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, sold out a headlining tour off of her debut EP and has had 21 songs chart
1:14.9	on the Billboard Hot 100.
1:17.2	21.
1:18.7	21.
1:20.0	So we're not talking about Olivia Rodriguez.
1:23.1	We're not talking about Billy Elish.
1:25.3	We're not talking about Taylor Swift.
1:27.5	No. Who are we talking about? We are talking about Canada's own Tate McCray.
1:38.6	This is the Culture Study podcast, and I'm Anne Helen Peterson. And I'm Rihanna Cruz, producer of Switched on Pop and Freelands Music and Culture Journalists.
1:47.8	Okay, so this is a little bit of a false like open because I'm trying to take the position
1:52.9	of Melody who when I came up with this idea, she's like, who is Tate McCray?
1:58.4	You kind of had that position a little bit before.
2:01.2	Like you knew who she was, but not, you weren't like, oh, she's that interesting.
	...

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