The internet’s favourite new pop girly Tate McRae has been on an absolute tear this past year with new music, hard-launching a new relationship (looking at you, Kid Laroi!) and basically living her best popstar life. But her latest career move with country singer Morgan Wallen has left fans doing a major double take.
In case the drama hasn’t hit your FYP yet, let me be the first to unpack this chaos.
On Tuesday, Tate posted a photo to her Instagram Story of an orange jersey with “T8” written on it and a sneaky little “MW” in small letters. It didn’t take long for her fanbase to get sleuthing, with one theory coming up pretty quick: she might be collabing with none other than Wallen.
It definitely seemed to add up — earlier this month, leading up to the release of his new album, Morgan even confirmed he’s all set to drop his first single recorded with a female artist (though country fans were guessing it might be a name like Megan Moroney and Miranda Lambert).
On Wednesday, it was officially confirmed it’d be our “Revolving Door” girly McRae featured on a new song called “What I Want”.
And unfortunately, despite all the hype, this announcement only led to Tate fans mostly putting her on blast.
(Image: X)
(Image: X)
(Image: X)
For the unacquainted, Morgan Wallen is a somewhat controversial artist, who’s been ruffling feathers way before that Saturday Night Live walk-off and sparking all those “Get me to God’s country” memes last month.
Back in 2020, the singer was seen partying mask-less at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, sparking plenty of backlash. A year later, he was caught on camera using a racial slur which led to plenty of radio stations pulling his music from airplay and country singers like Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini calling out the racist language.
Wallen’s been arrested twice for “disorderly conduct”, including being charged with three offences in April last year after he allegedly threw a chair off a rooftop bar. And most recently, it was rumoured Wallen’s Saturday Night Live was riddled with alleged “meltdowns and on-set tension” along with that controversial walkout.
Now that’s a lot to unpack — and in light of Tate’s latest decision to collab with the singer, fans have been pretty confused and disappointed.
“This is not the Tate McRae I thought I knew,” said one user on X (formerly Twitter) while others described it a “bad career move”.
“I just let out the biggest sigh,” another fan added.
(Image: X)
(Image: X)
To be fair, there are fans who’ve been coming to Tate’s defense this week, pointing out no one seemed to bat an eye when Post Malone collabed with Wallen on “I Had Some Help” last year.
“Wallen and Tate on the same track feels overdue in the best way possible,” another fan commented.
(Image: X)
(Image: X)
(Image: X)
Safe to say, it’s a pretty mixed bag of opinions among the Tatertots, even as Tate’s yet to comment on any of the backlash.
And for a Gen Z star like Tate whose brand is all about emotional honesty and keeping it ~real~, I’m sure hoping “You Broke me First” doesn’t hit different after this.
Lead image: Getty
