Tate McRae

Shortly after McRae began dancing competitively, she was awarded Best Female Dancer in the "Mini" category at the 2013 Dance Awards in New York City.[14] After gaining some prominence,[15] she became a brand ambassador for the American dance manufacturer Capezio.[8] She became a finalist at the New York City Dance Alliance's 2014 National Gala.[16]

In 2015, McRae was awarded a two-week scholarship at the Berlin State Ballet company after winning the silver medal at the 2015 Youth America Grand Prix.[13][17] She danced in the music video for Walk off the Earth's platinum-certified single "Rule The World".[14] For the second time, McRae was awarded her Best Female Dancer award at the 2015 Dance Awards, this time in the "Junior" category.[18] McRae had been a consistently active voice actress for the Lalaloopsy franchise, voicing the part of "Spot Splatter Splash" since the show's inception in 2013.[19]

In April 2016, McRae performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as part of the DancerPalooza troupe.[20] She performed again in October 2016 as part of the Jump Dance Convention troupe.[21] She also performed with Justin Bieber as part of his Purpose World Tour in June 2016, before taking part in the thirteenth season of American television show So You Think You Can Dance.[22] While competing for the America's Favorite Dancer title as a non-American, she was mentored by American dancer and actress Kathryn McCormick.[23] She advanced further in the competition than any other Canadian in the show's history, placing third on the final episode.[24] Canadian TV host Murtz Jaffer from Toronto Sun reacted, "The fact that Canadians couldn’t vote for Tate makes her third-place finish all the more impressive. While she might not have been voted America’s favourite dancer, she certainly might be Canada’s."[25] She performed at the 2016 Teen Choice Awards as a finalist from the SYTYCD cast.[26] For the third time, she won Best Female Dancer at the 2018 Dance Awards in Las Vegas, this time in the "Teen" category.[27] In April 2018, she choreographed and danced in the music video for the song "Just Say When" by American rock band Nothing More.[28][29]

Since its creation in 2011, McRae's YouTube channel has featured a fairly consistent stream of primarily dance videos. In 2017 she started a "Create With Tate" video series, focused on showcasing original songs she wrote and recorded in her bedroom.[30] Her upload of the series' first song "One Day" which she wrote at the age of 14, attracted over 35 million views, prompting her to self-release the song as an independent single.[31][3] The song would eventually be certified gold in Canada, making it the first certification of her career.[32] From 2017 to 2019, McRae continued to upload and release independent singles as part of her "Create With Tate" series. Notable songs include "Dear Ex Best Friend" which has over 32 million YouTube views and "Dear Parents" with over 18 million views. The series led to her being named a YouTube "Artist on the Rise".[33]

Her earlier upload of "One Day" caught the attention of RCA Records, where she signed in August 2019.[34] Following her signing, McRae announced her debut EP All the Things I Never Said (stylized in all lowercase) in December 2019.[35] She released the five-track EP on January 24, 2020 and announced her first headlining tour of Europe and North America.[36] Each stop on the tour was sold out.[37] The EP's lead single, "Tear Myself Apart", was co-written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell,[36] and together with "All My Friends Are Fake" had amassed over 10 million streams by December 2019.[35] The songs currently have over 60 million Spotify streams combined. The EP's final single, "Stupid" clocked 4 million Spotify streams in December 2019,[38] and currently has over 100 million Spotify streams. "Stupid" also charted in Ireland and Canada, earning significant radio airplay performance in the latter, peaking within the top 15 of the Canadian pop radio charts.[39] "Stupid" was certified gold in Canada, making it her third Canadian certification.[32] Each song on the EP is also stylized in lowercase.[37]

In April 2020, McRae released the single "You Broke Me First" amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, ahead of her second EP which is yet to be titled.[40] The second single from the EP, "Vicious" featuring American rapper Lil Mosey, was released in mid-June 2020.[41] In July 2020, McRae was nominated for the MTV Video Music Award for Push Best New Artist.[42] She also performed during the pre-show for the ceremony in August 2020.[43] That month, she uploaded an original song titled "Don't Be Sad", which was inspired by her life and amassed over 170,000 views in one day. The commercially re-released version served as the third single off her upcoming EP, which is due to be released in early 2021.[33] In September 2020, she made her first-ever music publication cover on that month's Dork Magazine issue.[44] She also appeared on the cover of Notion in November 2020.[45]

McRae performed "You Broke Me First" at the pre-show for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards in August 2020,[46][47] after the song had gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok and was commercially successful internationally. By September 2020, the song had accumulated over 150 million streams and became her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.[48] It currently has over 600 million streams across platforms [49] and over 430 million streams on Spotify alone. The song became an international hit, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Finland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, becoming her debut charting song in all except the Republic of Ireland. She appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on October 21 performing "You Broke Me First".[50] In October 2020, McRae released Lie to Me with Canadian singer Ali Gatie, the fourth single from her second EP. The song charted in Canada, making it her 3rd single to do so,[51] and currently has over 25 million Spotify streams. She again performed "You Broke Me First" in November 2020 at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards and was praised by NME and Billboard for being one of the stand out performers.[52][53] In December 2020, she released the EP's fifth single, R U OK which headlined Billboard's list of ten cool new pop songs for the week,[54] and charted on the Hot Singles Chart in New Zealand,[55] so far peaking at number 19.

McRae gained notable recognition as a rising artist in 2020. She received support from multiple platforms, being named YouTube's Artist on the Rise, MTV's Push Artist for the month of July, and a Vevo DSCVR artist.[56] She was featured on Billboard's 21 Under 21 One to Watch list.[57] In December 2020, she was the youngest person named by Forbes as one of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the music category.[58] In the same month, she was named one of Rolling Stones top ten biggest breakthrough artists of 2020.[59] She was also named on TikTok's "The Come Up: Emerging Artists" list as one of the top emerging artists on the platform.[60] By the end of the year, she ranked among the top 50 most streamed female artists on Spotify globally.[61] She was featured on Harper's Bazaar's "On the Rise" series which spotlights breakout talents.[62] Towards the end of the year, following the success of "You Broke Me First", she signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV.[56] McRae was also named by Pandora,[63] The Independent,[64] NME,[65] Amazon Music,[66] and Uproxx[67] as an artist to watch in 2021.

In January 2021, McRae performed "You Broke Me First" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, making it her fourth live performance of the song.[68] The following day, she released the song "Rubberband" as the sixth single from her upcoming EP.[49]