iHeartRadio Music Awards 2024: Tate McRae Talks About Success Of Greedy, Potential Collaboration With Kid Laroi

Tetris Kelly had a fun chat with singer Tate McRae as her single Greedy as it hit one billion streams on Spotify, making the song McRae’s highest-charting hit on the chart. Deets Inside

By Sweta Choudhury

Updated on Apr 02, 2024 | 02:16 PM IST | 166.4K

Tate McRae- Getty Images

Tetris Kelly caught up with singer Tate McRae for a fun candid chat regarding the success of her new single, Greedy, at the iHeartRadio Music Awards 2024 as it hits one billion streams on Spotify. The singer said that she kind of had a hunch that the album would go viral. "The next day I woke up after its release and saw the numbers and I knew it was going to do well," the 20-year-old singer said.

The song has earned 71.3 million on-demand official U.S. streams to date, according to Luminate, and by peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 (it’s No. 17 on the current tally), Greedy is McRae’s highest-charting hit on the chart. However, how the song has expanded her sound and pop persona, offering a commanding vocal take amid whooping music effects and a danceable beat, is more important to McRae than commercial achievements.

When asked about her upcoming world tour, the singer further added that "viewers can expect a lot of dancing, all the songs from my latest album, and lots of fun. I have a great team and a great band."

Tate McRae found the success of her song Greedy terrifying at first

In 2023, Tate McRae performed her viral hit Greedy at the Billboard Music Awards and on Saturday Night Live. Greedy, the first single off McRae's new album Think Later, has sold more than 330 million copies since its release on September. 15, 2023.

For a long time, McRae says she's found it impossible to combine her love for dancing and singing.

"I'm a songwriter deep down inside, and this is my therapy," she tells Q's Tom Power. "But I'm also a dancer, and I just had no idea how to put those two worlds together. I was going to the studio every day, being like, 'I want to write a song that I can dance to.'"

Greedy was made in a week-long writing session with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, songwriter Amy Allen, and producer Jasper Harris.

"On the last day, we're like, 'OK, let's do something different," says McRae. "Just see what we can do in a really short amount of time and [with] no f-ks given.' So then we started going back to old 2000s references, like Nelly Furtado and old Britney [Spears] songs."

McRae says she and Tedder found inspiration for Greedy from listening to Timbaland songs.

"We started making this beat and playing around with the story. We're rapping in the back, throwing out ideas, and painting this picture of a guy coming up to the bar. It was so much fun. We made it so fast]." But it took months of convincing for McRae to release Greedy as a single.

"I remember Ryan [Tedder] for multiple months; he would try to convince me to release this song," she recalled. "And I was like, 'Ryan, this is the scariest song ever. It's so different for me.' It just really terrified me. And he was like, 'Hey, you have to give it a chance.' And then finally, I came around to it," she added.

Tate McRae talks about her love for singer Britney Spears and potential collaboration With Kid Laroi

Tate McRae says she adores Britney Spears when asked if, as a millennial, she looks up to the singer. "I adore her (Britney) and I have watched all her performances and read her book too. She is an icon," said McRae.

Furthermore, the Greedy singer’s Britney shoutout echos what she previously told Billboard in her newly unveiled Nov. 16 cover story. “When I look at my favorite icons, videos, or performances, it’s always the biggest pop stars, so I think that’s always a goal,” she said. “I think what defines a pop star is how iconic [they are]: Madonna, Britney [Spears], Christina [Aguilera]; they would put on these shows and blow everybody away and make timeless art.”

McRae also hinted at the possibility of collaborating with Kid Laroi when asked if she would ever do a song with him.

"Well, I don't know (chuckles). I might; I mean, he's amazing," the singer said.

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