This past Friday of releases has seen several notable comebacks, including that of Canadian superstar Tate McRae, who has released his first single since the release of ‘Think Later’, his second album, not even a year ago.
It was the album that contained ‘Greedy’, one of the biggest commercial hits of 2023, and also the fun ‘Exes’, although later in the sequence there were mid-tempos; there weren’t that many hits after all on an album that seemed to have been finished in a hurry. Despite this, McRae’s visit to Madrid was a triumph.
McRae has had time in a year to prepare a new hit, and a hit is what he proposes in ‘It’s ok I’m ok’, a song that, like ‘Greedy’, is once again supported by very powerful and aggressive percussion, similar to those of Timbaland’s productions from a few years ago. The drums on ‘It’s ok I’m ok’ rumble in such a way that they have the Pussycat Dolls considering their return just to design a choreography for it.
Then, ‘It’s ok I’m ok’ seeks all its support from Tate McRae, specifically his voice and attitude, and here it is not so convincing. It is very interesting to read the pages and pages dedicated to criticizing his diction in pop forums, but even for those who do not speak English as their primary language, Tate’s fixation on singing in italics is noticeable and not in a good way. Of course, that has not been a problem for the public to elevate ‘Greedy’ to the top.
There are a couple of other things to note about ‘It’s ok I’m ok’. In favour, the contrast between the grandeur of the percussion and Tate McRae’s complete indifference in the lyrics, dedicated to a boy she is no longer interested in, works: “I have no say in it, you can have it if you want” is a humiliating phrase for anyone who receives it. On the downside, the video fails to become iconic despite focusing on dancing and incorporating pop references from the past.
Charging …