Pop singer Tate McRae used a new interview to distance herself from conservative political affiliations after her collaboration with country star Morgan Wallen and her reported relationship with NHL player Jack Hughes drew online speculation.
McRae, 23, told Variety she prefers to let her actions speak for her rather than wade into political debates directly. The singer's collaboration with Wallen on "What I Want", which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her first chart-topping hit, drew attention last year, as did her reported relationship with Hughes, who laughed alongside teammates during a congratulatory phone call from President Trump after the U.S. men's hockey team won Olympic gold this summer.
Rather than offer a direct political statement, McRae pointed to the organizations she supports and the culture she builds around her live shows. Page Six reported that she posted a TikTok last year advertising a "Little Miss Possessive" sweatshirt with proceeds going to the Global Fund for Women and The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth.
McRae framed it simply in her Variety interview:
"I like to say my piece through organizations I support and the environment that I have on tour."
She added that she believes her track record makes her position clear enough without a press conference.
"I think it's pretty obvious what kind of person I am and the things I support. And I hope that my fans can see that through the things that I'm putting my energy towards."
The speculation around McRae intensified after Hughes scored the game-winning goal for the U.S. men's hockey team in their Olympic gold medal run. President Trump called the team to congratulate them, the call was made via FBI Director Kash Patel, and later invited the players to his State of the Union address. Hughes and his teammates laughed at a quip Trump made during the call.
Trump's remark was characteristically blunt:
"I must tell you we're going to have to bring the women too; you do know that. Believe me, I probably would be impeached, okay?"
Multiple mainstream media outlets ran op-eds condemning the team for laughing at the joke, visiting the White House, and attending the State of the Union. The backlash spilled over to McRae by association, guilt by boyfriend, essentially, and she found herself fielding questions about political loyalties she had never publicly declared.
McRae declined to take the bait. She told Variety that she guards her personal relationships and refuses to let outside noise dictate her energy.
"I try to keep my relationships as sacred and private as possible."
"I love the people in my life. They love me. You just try to keep that circle as positive and supportive as possible."
On the broader swirl of speculation, she was direct:
"And the outside noise, I can't do anything about that. Focusing my energy on something that I can't control, it just puts me in a bad mood."
Behind the political drama sits a career moving fast. McRae's "Miss Possessive" tour ran 88 stops and grossed more than $100 million. She recently headlined Lollapalooza and is set to perform at Montreal's Osheaga Festival, her first time playing a festival in her home country. She is already working on a fourth studio album.
But McRae was candid about the toll. She described her post-tour mental state in stark terms, referencing the poet Sylvia Plath.
"I remember reading Sylvia Plath being like, 'I am her.' My thoughts felt so dark at the time, and I felt so lonely. I really needed to come back into my body and regulate my nervous system."
She said the exhaustion was physical and psychological.
"I was so shot after the tour. I couldn't really sleep at night. I'd seen so much of myself that I was like, 'I want to go into a black room and not look in a mirror for six months.'"
McRae described having to talk herself back from a spiral of self-criticism.
"And I think I really had to check myself and be like, 'You're not the worst person in the world. You're not the ugliest person in the world. You haven't done everything wrong. And, you know, you're just doing what you love.'"
When the conversation turned to her long-term goals, McRae steered toward craft rather than controversy. She described an almost obsessive drive to improve her live performances.
"There's always thought about how you want your legacy to go down. For me, the way to do that is try to beat your last performance, try to beat your last song, try to grow, evolve, pick it apart, rip it apart, figure out what didn't work, what I didn't like about that performance, what I could have done better, why I was nervous, figure out how to not be nervous."
"I think the more you can master yourself and your performances, the better you get."
The Wallen collaboration that started the whole debate? It worked. "What I Want" was the fifth single from Wallen's album "I'm the Problem," and it gave McRae her first No. 1 on the Hot 100. Whether or not the political chatter cost her any fans, the chart numbers suggest she gained plenty.
A 23-year-old pop singer collaborating with a country artist and dating a hockey player shouldn't require a political loyalty oath. But in a culture that demands one, McRae's refusal to play along may be the most sensible move she's made yet.
