By Charleen Eckert
Screaming teenagers, sold-out halls – and on tour with superstar Shawn Mendes (23)!
A life most can only dream of. For the Canadian singer Tate McRae (19) this is now everyday life. While the corona pandemic brought the world to a standstill, she made her international breakthrough in 2020 with her song “You Broke Me First”.
Since then, the former ballet dancer has led a life in the limelight. And that despite the fact that she actually wanted to build her career in the background of the superstars.
“My plan was actually to become a background dancer. I never thought that I would have a career as a singer. And I’m still stunned when I see how many people come to my shows and how many memorize the lyrics to my songs. It’s just crazy,” the singer enthuses over BILD.
Even if Tate McRae can’t quite grasp it herself, she’s long been one of the greats and surrounded by celebrities!
The most famous contact on her cell phone: Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes (23). The 19-year-old goes on tour with him from September and the two have much more in common than their common music career and their home country.
“Shawn is a really great guy, we spend a lot of time together and I’m extremely grateful to have such a great person in my circle of friends. He’s just so sweet and so good to me!” the singer explains to BILD.
When she’s not writing with Shawn, singer Olivia Rodrigo (19) is one of her closest people.
According to her own statement, the singer did not have many friends in the past, so she is all the more amazed at how people now react to her success: “Some classmates were not particularly nice to me at the time. Ever since I’ve been in the spotlight, everyone has suddenly wanted to spend time with me. But I see through that very quickly. I know who the real ones are and I’m still in touch with them, even though I live in L.A. now.”
Despite her worldwide success, sold-out tours, two million followers on Instagram and songs that play on the radio in a continuous loop, the singer has repeatedly struggled with strong self-doubt. The main trigger for them, as for so many young people: social media.
“I think it’s human to always see what you don’t have yourself. The grass on the other side always looks greener, especially on Instagram, I feel the same way,” Tate told BILD. Another trigger for bad thoughts: stalking the ex!
Tate: “On Instagram, of course, you can see very clearly who is following whom. So, like many other women, I can see exactly who the ex is following. Instagram can be really toxic…”
In order not to be too influenced by the social media make-believe, Tate tries to spend as little time as possible on Instagram. But she admits to BILD that it is a real challenge to keep your hands off social media apps, especially on the tour bus…
