Chronically Elle

Tag: Music

  • My Star

    My Star

    a love letter to Gracie Abrams ❤

    You’re 15 and in your bedroom, scrolling through Instagram in an effort to distract yourself from the digital silence. The lack of text messages. Calls. Or any sort of contact from the people who want to believe are your close friends. But the phone never rings. The screen doesn’t light up with a notification. The weekend just began and you try not to feel ungrateful for the friendships in your life. You see a photo or two of your so-called ‘friend group’ (you always hated that term because it sounds exclusive and cliquey) without you and try to justify how they’ve neglected you: you’re always busy with swim practice anyway; maybe it was an accident; they wouldn’t purposefully exclude you…

    You continue to scroll on your phone, ignoring the whispers of loneliness in your ear. A video of a girl with long brunette hair running towards a camera in front of a rustic brown barn catches your attention. A relatively niche artist you recently started following is promoting her brand new song released earlier the same day. Something about the strum of the guitar pulls on your heart like a magnetic force and you can’t open Spotify fast enough. You click the play button. And as the next 4 minutes and 9 seconds go by, the entire trajectory of your life is spun around. Every ounce of bitter loneliness you’ve tasted is washed away and replaced by  validation from someone whom you’ve never met but somehow knows you better than you know yourself. You’re not alone. You never were. 

    Sophomore Year of High School-Winter: 

    I am sitting in the quaint and cozy library of Buffalo Seminary High School, desperately searching my brain for the will power to complete my French homework. Listening to Spotify’s recommended songs, I pick up my phone as an unfamiliar beat starts playing followed by an unfamiliar voice. I have been skipping songs I don’t know– I love hearing new music but today I am seeking the comfort of familiarity. Before my thumb lands on the ‘skip’ button I pause at the name of the artist– Gracie Abrams. I have vaguely heard of her before through a friend who is constantly posting about Gracie on her Instagram story (shoutout Grace, if anyone is an OG Gracie fan it’s you), but hadn’t thought to check out her music on my own. I give the song a listen because I am already captivated by her unique vocal and enticing melodies. The song is accompanied by a clip of Gracie dropping what appears to be a birthday cake on a doorstep– but as the song passes, that’s all I really remember. I can’t remember the title, but I do thoroughly enjoy this new song and am excited to share with my classmate that I listened to Gracie Abrams for the first time.

    A couple weeks pass and after scouring Spotify I finally find the “cake” song as I nicknamed it in my head. The title is “Mess It Up” and I immediately add it to my playlists. 

    As the month passes, I add a couple more Gracie Abrams songs like “21” and “Feels Like” to my daily streaming cycle. I made a mental note to stream more of her discography eventually, but little did I know, in just a matter of days Gracie Abrams would impact my life forever.

    April 8, 2022

    After school in my bedroom, I find myself scrolling through Instagram desperately trying to mute the uncontrollable voices in my head. The ones that are going over my every move of the week pin pointing each time I made a mistake, said the ‘wrong’ thing, spoke too softly, shouldn’t have spoke at all, should’ve spoken up, could’ve been a better friend, could’ve have been more proactive, and wondering why I constantly feel like a floating ghost in a world of visible people. I came across photos of my “friends” together without me and wondered where I went wrong and why I always felt so distant from my peers. Being a high-level athlete, I know I probably would not have been available anyway, but an invite still would’ve been appreciated. But these thoughts and critiques are nothing new. I’ve just never had a way to articulate or explain them. I always felt invalid or that somehow it was my fault. These feelings have overtaken my internal monologue since the day I formed my first thought and I’ve just learned to live with it. 

    As I lay there on my bed, my chin resting on one palm while the other holds my phone, I swipe my thumb across the screen yet again. But never did I guess that this single scroll of a screen would change my life. 

    The next video I come upon is an Instagram Reel posted by Gracie Abrams whom I just recently started following. I glance at the caption which reads “somehow Block me Out comes out tonight.” I quickly turn up the volume as I watch and listen to the clip of Gracie running towards the camera, flipping around her long brunette hair (before she chopped it to her now iconic bob in late 2023) in front of producer Aaron Dessner’s famous Long Pond Studios. I am immediately so pulled to the essence of this clip in a way I have never felt before. The video is just a few short seconds of the introduction to the song which is mostly composed of merely guitar chords that somehow sound exactly like my deepest most personal thoughts if those thoughts transformed into music. Majestic but secluded, prominent but subtle. My heart starts to knock on the doors of my chest as I notice the date of the post says April 7, meaning the song has already been released. Rushing to Spotify I type “Block me Out” in the search bar and can’t press play any faster. I hear the now familiar chords of the intro and close my eyes, knowing that this song would be special– having no idea of the extent. 

    For the next four minutes and nine seconds I feel as though a spell has been cast over me. Opening my eyes, I realize they are filled with tears (which is happening to me now as I write this, looking back). Every word of the song is identical to everything I never had the words to say. To make sure I heard properly, I press play once again. This time by the end, my jaw is on the floor and my palm covering my open mouth. I am frozen in shock. Paralyzed by validation. As if answering my prayers, this song gave me words to the feelings I could never quite describe. In a sense, I feel as if my soul is levitating. The weight of isolation I have carried on my shoulders is lifted because someone else knows exactly how I feel. To be completely honest, I am also partly suspicious that Miss Abrams somehow broke into my room, stole my personal journal, and wrote a song based off of what was inside. In my entire 15 years of life, I have never felt less alone; never felt more visible; and never felt more known. An adolescence of feeling misunderstood in my surroundings and lost among my peers is put to an immediate halt by a 22-year old girl I’ve never met and her guitar of enchantment. Without a doubt I have just discovered my new favorite song…of all time…forever…as long as I live. 

    The Memory I Swear Was a Dream

    It is safe to say that immediately after hearing “Block me Out” for the first time, I shortly had the entirety of Gracie’s discography memorized (including unreleased tracks), quickly finding that I heard a piece of my own echo in every one of her songs. At the time, she had only released two EP’s, “minor” and “This is what it feels like”, but no studio albums. Though every single song off of her first two projects is immensely important to me, Gracie finally dropped her first full studio album. “Good Riddance” was released on February 24th, 2023. At the time, I was paranoid about Gracie becoming mainstream with her relatively big single “I know it won’t work.” Though I wanted my favorite artist to be successful, Gracie Abrams becoming a household name in the pop industry felt like losing the intimacy that makes her music so special. The idea of other people knowing the lyrics to her songs was like having my diary exposed to the world. After “Good Riddance,” she gained a larger fanbase but remained relatively underground as far as indie-pop artists go. Just when I didn’t think her music could cut any deeper, Gracie dropped a deluxe version of “Good Riddance” in June of 2023. Not only did she include “Block me Out” on this version of the album, but she added 3 new songs including “Unsteady” which immediately stole the spot as my second favorite song of all time.

    Gracie performing “Block Me Out” at The Era’s Tour

    About a month prior to the release of “Good Riddance (Deluxe)” my wildest dream came true. As if stars aligned perfectly, I not only snagged last minute tickets to Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” but it was the only show that weekend with Gracie as an opener (and Phoebe Bridgers which is unreal in itself). Not only did I see Gracie live, but she performed the song that changed everything for me. I shed buckets full of tears at the reality of seeing Gracie in person and hearing her live voice sing songs I swear she wrote just for me.

    With 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify and a guitar, Gracie stepped on stage in Gillette Stadium and I automatically broke into sobs for the next 20 minutes while she performed four songs. When that all-too familiar intro to “Block Me Out” started to play, I started quite literally choking on my own tears (which can be heard on my shaky video when I cry out “I can’t breathe.”)– so much so that people turned their heads in concern wondering how I could be so emotional over the opener before Taylor even stepped on stage. 

    Watching Gracie’s Career Takeoff

    You probably know her as the “‘That’s So True’ girl,” or Taylor Swift’s apprentice with the bob that gets shorter by the day, but I will always know her as the girl that changed the game of life for me; my mentor; my best friend who doesn’t know I exist (if you can’t tell I am very parasocial about her). After her release of her sophomore album “The Secret of Us” in June 2024, Gracie took the music industry by storm. With the song “us.” featuring Taylor Swift, the Tiktok hit “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” and of course, the global hit “That’s So True” bringing her to 37million monthly Spotify listeners, my biggest fear came true– Gracie Abrams became one of the biggest breakout names in music. But I couldn’t be prouder of the artist who deserves it all. 

    To represent the way Gracie has permanently impacted my life, almost a year ago I got my first tattoo of her lopsided star logo which has been applied to Gracie’s merchandise since the start of her career (she also has a similar tattoo of her own!). To me, this tattoo was more than just an aesthetic decision or using my independence as an 18-year old. The little star on my right forearm is a  way to remain eternally connected to the artist that serves as a lifeline for me (and I am already plotting to get my second Gracie-related tattoo…). Though I am not sure I will ever be completely free from how “every voice in my head is trying its best to haunt me” as Gracie sings in “Block Me Out,” I know I will always have music to lean on when “I look around to find it desolate” (Abrams, “Block Me Out”). This song still applies to my life and hits home just as hard as it did the first day I heard it four years ago. I use it like oxygen to breathe, having it’s specific Spotify code hanging on the wall in my dorm room as a reminder that when I feel no one hears me, Gracie Madigan Abrams always will. 

    Every day I pray I will get the chance to meet Gracie. It would mean the world to thank her for her courage to be vulnerable, talking about the uncomfortable topics that ultimately unlock souls from the cage of feeling alone. I truly could write an essay just as long as this one about each of her songs individually. Though “Block Me Out” was the turning point that started what would become a lifelong obsession, she does not have a single track that isn’t deeply personal to me in some capacity– and I know many fans reading this would say “that’s so true!” (pun intended).

    In utmost seriousness I do not know how I would function in a world without Gracie and her music. Listening to her voice has become my daily dose of comfort, as vital for my health as any prescription on my shelf. To sum it up, I have probably shed more tears (of every emotion) from the existence of Gracie Abrams more than anything else combined in my life–but as a true Gracie fan, “ after all of this time I should be a pretty crier” (Abrams, “Block Me Out”).

    Gracie during “21”- getting to scream the lyric “sorry!” back at her is a moment I think about every day.

  • The Scariest Thing I’ve Ever Done and How it Changed my Life

    May 2024

    What am I doing here? Who do I think I am? Definitely not someone equipped for this, that’s for sure. Omg I might just collapse. I wish I could evaporate into the air on command- *piano chords fill the room*- okay okay just do it.

    Suddenly I am back on the couch, my head supported by a pillow absorbing my tears full of overwhelming validation, each one that falls representing a year of my life spent hiding, finally released from the cage of my mind. The memory sets me free.  

    April 2022, Sophomore year:

    Mom and I are in the living room. Remote in hand, mom flips through streaming services as we try to find a movie to occupy our evening in the middle of spring break. 

    “Hey, I’ve wanted to see this one since it came out,” I start to suggest a movie based off of a broadway musical I have never attended but always been curious about. For a while now, I have been a big fan of the song “Waving Through A Window,” performed by Broadway icon Ben Platt, which is from this very musical and made me intrigued by the production in the first place. 

    “‘Dear Evan Hansen? Looks good. Let’s watch it,” mom replies. 

    We click on the movie and I absolutely adore the whole thing. Emotional rollercoaster. Beautiful and uncomfortable and fascinating and real. But I am left so moved by one song in particular. One moment in the film that changed the trajectory of my  life if I am being honest. The scene when actress Amandla Stenberg enchantingly sings the anthem that will permanently tattoo my heart: “The Anonymous Ones.”

    The next two years:

    Home alone? I’m singing it. 

    In the car? Belting it at the top of my lungs. 

    In my room at night listening to music blasting through my ear buds even though I already said “goodnight” to my family hours ago? I close my eyes and lip sync along as I imagine myself performing the lyrics in front of an audience because all I have ever wanted to do is perform, and if I ever, somehow, maybe in another life got the chance to sing for a crowd, without a question it would be this song. But it wasn’t a matter of not having a chance. It was a matter of believing I could do it. 

    I am forever grateful for my high school experience. The environment cultivated at Buffalo Seminary is one that encourages students to search within themselves for how they want to make an impact on the world and what they want to pursue in this life we are given. For me, one of the top things on my list was music. Sure, I played violin from the time I was six years old, and I always loved it and was pretty good too! But my deepest darkest most forbidden secret from EVERYONE except my Voice Memos app is that I wanted to sing.

    My school had a Glee Club. Freshman year I joined it and stayed with the group all four years. It was fun and gave me an opportunity to sing in school. Great! But with Glee Club, it was easy to blend in. Most of the time I would sing along, but whenever I felt insecure about my voice or if the note felt out of my range, I could just mouth my way through and no one would notice. It was a safe place. I was able to sing without the pressure of all ears on me (ha, get it?). 

    One afternoon my friends were messing around with the piano located in the chapel at the center of the school, open for students to play whenever their hearts desired (good times). They asked me to join them. “Um, of course!” And I excitedly sat on the bench beside them. We ended up singing through some songs we all liked and my friend who was playing the keys paused and said, “Elle, we sound really good together. Let’s perform this at Morning Meeting!” My heart rate surged. I could hear my pulse reverberating through my body. Spoiler alert, I ended up agreeing as long as we sang the whole song in unison (the song was “ceilings by Lizzy McAlpine but that’s beside the point). She had a phenomenal voice and no way was about to sing solo in front of the entire school. 

    We were a hit and ended up performing three songs together throughout our junior and senior years. So now I had a couple performances under my belt. But they were duets. Not solos. I could never do that (*sigh* if only I knew…). 

    our first Morning Meeting performance

    Senior year I crossed my fingers and prayed I would be able to take the one senior elective I had desperately wanted to take since freshman year: Voice Class. By some miracle, my schedule allowed me to take the course! 

    Voice Class would consist of quite literally one-on-one vocal lessons with our school music teacher who had a passion for teaching students to use their voices (literally and metaphorically). She asked me to pick out a couple songs that I would want to work on. Of course, I immediately wrote down “The Anonymous Ones” from the “Dear Evan Hansen” film. During one of my first lessons she had me sing it cold. “Just go for it!” she instructed. So I did. After I finished my first run through she asked me why I chose that song in particular: “Because it really changed my life,” I explained. “I cried the first time I heard it because I related to it which meant a lot to me. I just love it.” 

    Then she said the craziest sentence I ever could have fathomed: “Would you want to perform it at our upcoming spring concert?” 

    Do I want to? This is my DREAM. Can I? Um…

    Sure, I had performed a couple times with my friend and I survived. But alone? That felt out of the question. 

    Before I could put too much thought into my answer I opened my mouth and started speaking whatever words came out. “Uh yes. Wow. I don’t know. Um. Do you think I’m good enough?”

     “Elle, you have a beautiful voice, use it.” 

    May 2024: 

    What am I doing here? Who do I think I am? Definitely not someone equipped for this, that’s for sure. Omg I might just collapse. I wish I could evaporate into the air on command- *piano chords fill the room*- okay okay just do it. 

    And I start to sing:

    “Ever look at all the people who seem to know exactly how to be?”

    My hands are drenched in my own sweat. The breeze from the open window is blowing my hair into my face (which actually turned out to be a cool effect!). The microphone stand is a little too short and the piano a little too fast. I can’t look up at the balcony where my family sits or I’ll get distracted. I keep my eyes straight ahead and as the song moves forward I allow myself to loosen up. Remember why you chose this song. And more importantly, remember the reason this song meant so much to you when you first heard it… 

    Though I am still nervous, I am no  longer trembling in fear. In fact, I am actually relieved not to have a Glee Club of students to hide my voice behind. Everyone is watching. Everyone is listening. But I can use this moment to make my own impact, I decide. Now, I don’t just sing the words, but I sing every moment of my life that has manifested into the very one I am in now: 

    “You think, they don’t need piles of prescriptions to function naturally…”

    “So they keep on keeping secrets that they think they have to hide…”

    “She’s built a wall with her achievements 

    To keep out the question 

    ‘Without it, is she worth anything at all?’”

    “There are those anonymous ones

    Stuck inside the perfect frame they’re faking

    All of us anonymous ones

    Who pick themselves apart ’til they start breaking…”

    “The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well,

    But that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy…”

    “Maybe we, we don’t have to be

    Anonymous, anymore.”

    Lyric after lyric I find more power in my voice. I am not just singing for myself. I am singing for the anonymous ones out there who need to hear this message. And I personally was breaking free of the feeling of anonymity that encaged me my whole life.

    Vocally, I have no idea what I sound like. If the performance is the worst I have ever sang, but one person in the audience felt a little less alone in whatever anonymous battle they are fighting, consider it a Grammy winning act. Applause erupts in the room as I imperfectly but confidently conclude the song. Wow my face is HOT and I am certainly still sweating. I take a little bow and trot back to my seat. Did I really just do that or am I in my room pretending again?

     Nope, that was real. Dang. 

    Falling asleep that night, like counting sheep, my mind just repeats: I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it…

    The present: 

    I didn’t watch the recording mom took for months after the performance. I was so insecure and did not want to hear myself assault the eardrums of a couple hundred people. I may have completed the performance (somehow), but that didn’t mean I felt like it was good. Classmates, teachers, friends, and family all told me it was great but they were probably just being nice, right? 

    The truth is, I still don’t know if it was “good.” But I have watched the performance, many times by now.  I mean, it’s alright. But did I hit every note exactly how I wanted? No. Was I off tempo at some points? Yeah. But I did it. And the one thing I can say with total confidence is that I am so unbelievably proud of myself. The thing I used to literally dream about, with a song that meant the absolute world to me– I did it. If I have any regrets at all, it’s that I didn’t start performing sooner. Because graduation was around the corner and there would be no more Morning Meeting and no more school concerts. But to this day, every time I need a boost of confidence or a reminder that I can do the things I am most terrified of, I watch the video. Everytime I doubt myself; everytime I really want to do something but can’t work up the courage, I watch the video. The recording that I avoided for months out of fear of cringing at myself, is now my source of comfort to show that I can do it– whatever “it” may be . I can accomplish my goals. I can manifest my dreams into reality (like I literally did when I would pretend to perform it in my room). I can step out of my comfort zone and I can be seen and heard doing so.

    Singing a song I adore more than anything in front of my teachers and classmates and family and friends was never on my bingo card when I started high school. But it was most certainly in the back of my mind. And the thoughts in the back of our minds show up for a reason.

    Though this memory is still surreal to me today, the proof that it happened lies in the echoes of my own voice I hear when I need it most. After all, we all have a voice that’s meant to be heard.

    Anyway, if you’ve never heard this song, give it a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTPUZ-H8Qa0

    Here’s me doing my thing. Scariest thing I’ve ever done.

  • We Made the Right Person Famous: Growing up with Tate McRae

    Toronto, September 11 2023 (almost exactly 2 years ago…dang)

    I first met Tate in 2018, when I was 12 years old. I was not feeling too well, so I found myself laying on the couch mindlessly scrolling through YouTube videos on my laptop. I have always had a profound fascination with songwriting, so I clicked on a video that caught my attention titled “How To Write a Song.” The songwriting tutorial began with a teenage girl sitting behind a keyboard. She had a bright smile and captivating camera presence and I was immediately hooked. I then went down a rabbit hole scrolling through her account and falling in love with the original songs she posted– songs that my middle school self strongly related to. All of her videos featuring her original work opened with a cute little intro that displayed the words “Create With Tate” on the screen in bright yellow and blue. One song in particular left a permanent impact on me. I found this song under a particular YouTube video called “i wrote a song… one day // tate mcrae.” The lyrics told a tale of a girl and a boy, secretly in love with one another but each too shy to come forward. The song really resonated with myself at that age, and I thought it was so beautifully written and such a relevant topic. I also was drawn in by her unique and now famously recognizable vocals that felt both completely authentic and emotionally moving. After finding “One day” on Spotify and adding it to my playlists, I searched Tate up on instagram and hit the follow button. As a girl my age would do, I scrolled to the very bottom of her account and found that she not only was a singer/songwriter but also a dancing sensation. I soon learned that she was a contestant on the show “So You Think You Can Dance,” and realized most of her following at the time came from the dancing world, whereas I encountered her through music. This girl represented the epitome of talent. But her personality and life experiences never seemed too different from my own. Though she was merely a teenage girl navigating life just like me, there was no doubt she was destined for superstardom. 

      As I grew up, so did Tate. She continued to write music that directly paralleled the stages in life I was at as I moved through middle and then high school, watching as my favorite little YouTuber started to gain global recognition. From her first EP “all the things I never said” with ballads such as “that way” and “tear myself apart” and dance pop bangers like “stupid” and “all my friends are fake,” Tate had a song for every situation. In 2020, Tate’s first major hit “you broke me first” dropped, and I can recall my excitement upon hearing it on the radio for the first time. When I had just turned 16, she released her debut album “i used to think i could fly” which I had the privilege of listening to for the first time alongside one of my dear friends Zoey. We both may have shed some tears, as we felt deeply validated and understood by the stories Tate told in this album. My favorites will always be “boy x,” go away,” and “chaotic” (but also every other track on the record as well).

     

    When Tate announced the “Are we flying?” tour in 2023, Zoey and I immediately hopped on Facetime and got to work. We had business to take care of– AKA tickets to claim. 

    The second time I met Tate, I actually met her– as in, we spoke to one another and shared a hug. Zoey and I were able to get VIP tickets with a sound check pass along with a meet and greet for Tate’s show in Toronto. Obviously, the fangirl in me was shaking with nerves as I was about to meet one of my idols who helped guide me through some of my most challenging years. In our minute of time together I wanted to express how much of an impact she has had on me, but no words could possibly do it justice. When it was my turn to say “hello,” my first thought was dang she is much taller in person, but my second thought was my disbelief that I was being greeted by the same smile of that 14 year-old girl on my computer screen back in 2018— except now she was 20 and I was 17. To describe how I felt, starstuck is an understatement. Her enthusiasm and kindness fell nothing short of pure sincerity and genuine appreciation. We hugged and I said the classic words a fan says when they meet their favorite artist, “I love you!” And she said “I love you too!” Though I am sure she says that to all of her fans, I could tell she really meant it. Her persona was humble, genuine, and simply real. Loving all of her supporters seemed to come naturally to her.  In a moment I will never forget, she proceeded to compliment my makeup look. I happened to be particularly insecure about my makeup that day, as I tried to throw together a ‘cool’ eyeshadow blend of orange and hot pink to match her album cover… it flopped. I didn’t have much time to spend on it between school and the show, and I was not thrilled with the product. So when Tate said to me, “your eye shadow looks so cool, I always try to blend it like that but it’s so hard,” I was dumbfounded and deeply grateful. A simple compliment can go a long way especially when it comes from your hero. In our short conversation I was able to tell Tate the brief story of how I found her on YouTube and that I was a big “Create With Tate” fan. We took a selfie and so many people have told me we look like sisters (also a major compliment). That show continued to be one of the best and most unforgettable nights of my life. In an intimate 2,000 person venue, I got to witness some of my favorite songs of all time live in the front row. Her live vocals were beyond stunning, her choreography flawless, and her ability to command a stage and connect with a crowd just remarkable. 

    No caption needed. This was everything.

    About five days after the concert, Tate released her sensational pop hit “greedy.” This song would catapult her career even farther than before. In no time, she started playing arenas on her Think Later world tour. Tate’s fame simply skyrocketed, so I am forever grateful I got the opportunity to share a conversation with her before it became nearly impossible. Her next album “Think Later” perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be in your late teens/early twenties, trying to live life to the fullest while navigating the emotional turmoil that can come from relationships, friendships, and mental health. This past February, came her iconic album “So Close To What” featuring singles “It’s ok I’m ok,”  “2 hands” and “sports car,” with some of her most insane production yet and music videos showcasing her self-proclaimed alter ego “Tatiana”. 

    Aside from all of her relatable music, representing the highs and lows of adolescent-hood, what really stands out most about Tate is the confidence she portrays and the ways in which she inspires so many young women. What I admire so much about her is how she is very open about being in control of her work and having creative freedom. The level of authority she radiates perfectly defines what it means to be a “girl boss.” She shows up on stage as a fierce female figure who knows exactly who she is and the message she wants to convey. From watching her YouTube videos as a pre-teen, to seeing her perform live, or interviewed on the red carpet on TV, Tate represents herself as a confident, kind, authentic, and powerful role model. With undeniable beauty inside and out, she is the exact ideal pop star for girls to be looking up to, or like me, growing up with. She uses her talents not only to build an astounding career but also to show how fearlessly being yourself and taking advantage of the skills you were born with can take you as far as you dream possible. The singer, songwriter, dancer, and outstanding performer proves that putting yourself out there into the world with confidence and authenticity is the key to success. To completely sum up the now twenty-two year old’s talent, watch her performance from the VMAs just last Sunday. 

    Speaking of her VMAs performance, seeing her sing and dance her heart out behind my screen definitely felt bittersweet and nostalgic. Though I feel so proud of the artist she has grown into, I will always be so thankful for the sad-girl songwriter who posted her originals on YouTube and thus helped me survive middle school. As I told the Canadian queen herself when we met, “Create with Tate” will always hold a special place in my heart. Call me “miss possessive” (if you know, you know), but I will always proudly declare my spot as an OG Tater Tot. 

    I think I nailed it.
    Yes, I was Tate for Halloween last year.

    As I type this, Tate is actively performing in Atlanta just over an hour away. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, so I am kind of freaking out with FOMO at the moment. But all I can say is we definitely made the right person famous, and Miss McRae deserves it all.

    soundcheck! She performed “Chemical” by Post Malone, and her own song “hate myself.” There was also Q&A!