Tate McRae performing in Winnipeg on Aug. 9. McRae’s concerts are a consummate display of slick, sexy girl pop, high-priced video imagery and sharp choreography.Beth Saravo/Supplied
Performing alone on the small, circular B-stage partway through the first of two concerts at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, Canadian pop star Tate McRae talked about being 22 years old and that time was moving “super fast” for her. She remembered a Toronto concert in 2020 for 200 fans and another one last year at the city’s Budweiser Stage in front of some 16,000: “That was sick.”
Then McRae cooed to a minor key on the ballad Nostalgia: “Where does the time go?” asked the entertainer whose 2021 EP was titled Too Young to Be Sad. Nostalgia, at her age? Then again, Paul McCartney was 22 when he wrote Yesterday. Now, that was sick.
Nine years ago, McRae was a finalist on the American reality television series So You Think You Can Dance. Watching her 25-song, four-costume performance at Scotiabank, the verdict is in: She can dance.
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The Calgarian’s concert was a consummate display of slick, sexy girl pop, high-priced video imagery and sharp choreography (by her and her squad of eight hoofers). The aggressively tanned brunette pouted, flipped her hair, sashayed sensually and undulated expertly to lean, electric sonics.
Her “unbelievable band” really was that, consisting of just a drummer and a guitarist. Backup vocals and some of the music were prerecorded. As a singer, McRae is capable but limited − occasional breathy elevations pass for vocal range.
Miss Possessive is the lead track off McRae’s third and most recent album, So Close to What.Beth Saravo/Supplied
She opened with Miss Possessive, which is also the name of the current tour. The slinky, percussive vamp had McRae in mean-girl mode: “Yeah, I’ll be nice, up until I’m not.”
The song is the lead track off her third and most recent album, this year’s So Close to What. Created by McRae and a professional team of writer-producers, the music has an unoriginal, robotic feel. On stage, her sex-kitten poses can’t quite camouflage the blandness − she comes off as a vision perfected by virtual reality.
There’s an AI quality at work: Give me a J. Lo who can sing a little, a Britney without the “Oops!” and pop songs that put the rhythm in algorithms.
The songs are often about relationships. (Australian rapper the Kid LAROI suggested recently on X that he and McRae are no longer together.) Before singing her breakout 2020 hit You Broke Me First, she asked if anyone was currently going through a break-up. “Me! Me! Me!” a female voice behind me screamed. Also on the set list: Exes.
The audience was dominated by girls and young women in leopard pattern short shorts and McRae sports jerseys. They squealed, selfied, smartphoned and had a fine time watching a self-assured performance that included McRae taking to a stripper’s pole for Uh Oh.
A lap dance situation accompanied Purple Lace Bra, and one video interlude was dedicated to lingerie. Is the Instagram heroine angling for a Victoria’s Secret deal?
The audience was dominated by girls and young women who squealed, selfied, smartphoned and had a fine time watching McRae’s self-assured performance.Beth Saravo/Supplied
She sings for RCA Records, performs for Live Nation Entertainment and is sponsored by Neutrogena. The skincare brand’s presence was inescapable inside and outside the venue.
The immaculate, high-powered concert closed with a shower of confetti and the hit Greedy: “I would want myself, baby, please believe me.” It’s that kind of swagger that separates the McRaes and the Sabrina Carpenters of the pop world from the earnestness of (an older) Taylor Swift.
Tate McRae plays Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, Aug. 20; Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre, Aug. 22; Montreal’s Bell Centre, Aug. 24.
