Before Tate McRae became a pop star with her hit “you broke me first,” she was a competitive dancer. One night, she got the chance to dance onstage at a Justin Bieber concert — and now, less than five years later, she and Justin are side by side on the Billboard chart.
During Justin’s 2016 Purpose tour, he would have young dancers join him onstage for his song “Children” — and Tate was one of those kids.
“There was, like, an audition and I auditioned to perform with him in Calgary, where I live, on stage,” Tate recalls. “It was pretty cool. We got to meet him and everything. So it was quite an experience!”
But these days, if you take a look at Billboard‘s Pop Airplay chart, Tate and Justin are literally right next to each other in the top 10.
“That’s been weird,” Tate laughs. “Like, sometimes I’ll get a text and it’ll be like, ‘You’re right beside Justin Bieber on the charts!’ and you know, that’s a very weird thing to hear!”
However, Tate’s just the latest Canadian singer/songwriter to make it big in recent years: Shawn Mendes, Alessia Cara, The Weeknd and Drake all paved the way for her, but Justin was the O.G.: He showed everyone how a random kid from Canada could go from YouTube to being a global superstar.
“Honestly? Probably!” laughs Tate when asked if Justin’s success inspired her own. “I mean, he set the tone, but there definitely is something in the water in Canada — like, the talent is crazy! That’s why I am a very proud Canadian.”
Tate’s new EP too young to be sad will be out March 26.
By Andrea Dresdale
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