It's been a banner year for the Calgary team. Tate McRaewho has been a fixture on the pop scene between the release of her new album So close to thatthe ubiquity of her hit single “Sports car” and her performances on the Miss Possessive Tour posted all over social media.
If you needed further proof that she's making a splash in 2025, McRae is on the cover of the magazine's January 2026 issue. Rolling Stone — and in Angie Martocchio's profile, she finally addressed the biggest controversy she's faced along the way: negative reaction to her collaboration with a controversial country star Morgan Wallen.
McRae had a guest appearance on the track “What I Want” from Wallen's latest record. I'm the problem. When this news first appeared on the Internet in the spring, many fans were surprised and disappointed to read a duet with a country singer who literally became famous after “playfully” uttered the insult in a viral video – like a pop star espousing her own politics. (To date, McRae has not been open about her political views, but following her decision to work with Wallen, many memes circulated about her being a Trump supporter.)
“Honestly, where I come from, country is very popular,” McRae told Martocchio, citing how attending the annual Calgary Stampede festival as a child influenced her lifelong love of the genre. “My brother has always been a huge country music fan. I always wanted to do folk or country music at some point in my life, and I probably will in the future.”
She continued, “But honestly, I just got the opportunity to sing a country song and I was like, 'Oh, this is cool.' And I really wanted to cross genres. For me it was just a song. I didn't realize how much the song would relate to all the other factors, and it really shocked me.”
McRae went on to say that even though she hasn't met Wallen in person yet, she has no regrets about dueting with him: “I don't think you should regret anything in life because it gives you so much clarity,” she muses, adding, “I think arguing and criticizing is a way to learn and figure out where you want to move forward and how that shapes you as a person. I think it's all important.”
Martocchio noted that she wasn't sure whether the “honest and unapologetic” response came from the introverted, sensitive Tate or her confident performer alter ego Tatiana. I think whoever has media training.
