Tate McRae is one of the most popular artists in the world — but millions of my peers have only the faintest idea of who she is. Alternately, they’re baffled by her. Is she Britney rebooted? Is she talented? What does she mean? Does it matter? After listening to Reanna Cruz guide listeners through McRae’s sound on Switched on Pop, I knew I wanted them to come on the show and work through more of McRae’s image. We talk about her sound, of course, but also consider her through the lens of her Canadianness, her Gen-Z-ness, her ‘organic’ songwriting success on YouTube, and her popular girl vibes.
Thanks to the sponsors of today’s episode!
Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit ARTICLE.COM/culture and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
Go to zbiotics.com/CULTURESTUDY and use CULTURESTUDY at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics. ZBiotics has a 100% money-back guarantee, so if you’re unsatisfied for any reason they will refund your money, no questions asked.
Listeners, we are firmly on the path to sustainability — and your subscriptions made this possible! (We no longer have to ask for subscriptions to pay Melody for the next month). This show is only possible because of people like you, and we are so grateful.
If you’re not already a subscriber and want access to each week’s FULL EPISODE including the Ask Anne Anything, come join us! (And remember that if you’re already a Culture Study newsletter subscriber, you get a screaming deal, but you have to click there to use it; it is *not* applied automatically).
***And if you’d like to add the subscriber-only podcast to your podcast app, here’s how.***
Show Notes:
Listen to the episode of Switched on Pop (re: Tate) that made me desperate to have Reanna come on the show
The referenced video for Sports Car which is trying to do….something
Tiktok failed to load.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserPerforming Greedy at the NHL All-Star Game:
The goalie pads on the wrong legs on the album cover for Think Later:
If you want a sense of McRae’s dancing start at the two-minute mark here:
Very early McRae songwriting:
We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:
What 2000s pop culture did to women’s understanding of themselves
What’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) *right now* (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)
*TEXAS* Culture, *MONTANA* Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)
Evangelical Summer Camp, past and present
How/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything Up
The intersection of technology and parenting
Dark Academia (as in, the literary genre)
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!
As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here
