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When Tate McRae punctuated her debut with blunt ruminations on teenage love and coming of age, the dance competitor turned pop singer was heralded as Canada’s answer to Billie Eilish. For her second album, THINK LATER, McRae toughens up that first impression by becoming a Canadian Sporty Spice, trading neon sweatshirts for hockey gear. It’s a classic formula: Good girl goes man-eating badass, and she’s ready to make that jerk regret losing her. Too bad she’s still hung up on him—and THINK LATER is full of homogeneous trap-pop ballads devoted to one-dimensional introspection.

 

To showcase a “feistier” version of herself, McRae assembled a roster of prominent pop writers and producers, including OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, SZA’s SOS collaborator Rob Bisel, and Ariana Grande associate ILYA. They land on a style that’s undeniably indebted to Bangerz and the 2010s obsession with trap-pop, updated to iterate on SZA’s love-hate yearning and the Weeknd’s atmospheric alt-R&B. On “run for the hills,” McRae explores the lure of an unhealthy relationship under a looming cloud of synth that’s pierced by single words in her head voice, like Grande rapping “gimme the loot!” on “7 rings.”

Most of the album is similarly concerned with presenting McRae as the give-no-fucks bad girl. “It’s not a good night if you don’t take it too far,” she winks on the arena-stomping title track (which sounds a little like M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” itself). The Timbaland-inspired “greedy,” one of the first and best songs on the record, is McRae at her most empowered and exciting. At other times, the pettiness is just tiring. “we’re not alike” is a pop punk-lite temper tantrum about a friend who breaks girl code; it’s as if McRae attempted to emulate Eilish’s “Copycat” without the bite.

Throughout THINK LATER, McRae’s narrator yearns for the kind of toxic romance that makes Harley Quinn and the Joker look restrained. “You’re the only one who can boil my blood/And make that **** cut,” she warbles on the clunky, mid-tempo “messier,” which sounds like a good reason to finally dump him. Then she goes starry-eyed: “’Cause you know that I’m always yours/I’m so in love.” Where SZA might plot a murder, McRae threatens to make a scene at dinner. The cycle is vicious but worse, it’s dull. Has Tate McRae ever considered protecting her peace?

 

There’s another school of thought that likens McRae to Britney Spears, recognizing a dancer’s magnetism and competitive edge. McRae’s inability to produce equally compelling music leaves her in a bind. The more comparisons she earns, the more THINK LATER feels anonymous: stuck romanticizing the negative in an attempt to prove her seriousness as a singer. Her music is strongest when she tosses the ballads in the bin. When she rode into the impeccably choreographed “greedy” video on a Zamboni, she looked like a budding star, and when she sings about a random guy who asks if she’s aware of her powers, her response is perfectly dry: “I said, ‘Lemme check.’” Sucks that the rest of THINK LATER can’t muster the same easy confidence.

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Edited December 15, 20232 yr by B-Luke

Tbh the review sounds really negative, 5.9 is a win IMO  but Tate is unbothered by these old men

 

i kinda see why, it does sound a bit undercooked

Well the reviews may be not so great but the album itself has proven to be a winner

Teenage Dream of 2020s.

I swear before I open this thread I thought I read 9.5, and I haven’t listen to any of her songs in full lol

One of the rare times that I actually agree with a Pitchfork review, a lot of people have been saying this album is mostly bland, badly sequenced and forgettable, they are correct. You could keep Greedy and Exes, nobody would miss the rest of it.

 

This was marketed as an era of pop bangers and the majority of the tracks are mediocre ballads from an artist who has never struck me as very good at ballads to begin with. Tate seems like a lovely girl and I wish her all the best but this album is definitely not something I would ever want to relisten to again.

Edited December 15, 20232 yr by 4th Time Around

12 minutes ago, Fastlane said:

Teenage Dream of 2020s.

Teenage Dream, sweetie

3 minutes ago, 4th Time Around said:

One of the rare times that I actually agree with a Pitchfork review, a lot of people have been saying this album is mostly bland, badly sequenced and forgettable with a few solid tracks here and there like Greedy and they are correct.

 

This was marketed as an era of pop bangers and the majority of the tracks are mediocre ballads from an artist who has never struck me as very good at ballads to begin with. Tate seems like a lovely girl and I wish her all the best but this album is definitely not something I would ever want to relisten to again.

She was been known for ballads before this era. She’s built a touring fanbase off her earlier music so it wouldn’t make sense to alienate them by cutting out the sad songs, but the album works well as a transition before she switched to full bops 

I mean I agree.  I like Tate a lot but this album is very dry.

do you know? she is 'you broke me first' girl and released EP/debut prior to this release? what's not clicking?

 

 

OT: reasonable, okay yeah

Reasonable score, the review sounds even harsher so she got lucky it’s not below 5

they know they could’ve given her atleast 6.5 like pls don’t play with me like that

A very generous score

Ah well. Exes is a bop either way

2 hours ago, kellebrity98 said:

 

now jump

It's really never that deep that you need to wish death on someone who reviewed an album...

 

OT: I liked the album but I'd largely agree with this analysis. Greedy is a very good pop song and nothing else really comes close to it. Songs like Think Later, Cut My Hair and Exes are the vibe she should've been going for. Some of the ballads are good but they don't fit with the overall "bad girl" theme which she claims to be going for. It's just weird that she says "sad girl bit got a little boring" and then proceeds to spend most of the album crying over someone.

1 hour ago, Fastlane said:

Teenage Dream of 2020s.

Don’t be disrespectful 

messier is  highlight, they know nothing

well yes

She just doesn’t do ballads very well, especially considering what an energetic performer she’s being seen as right now 

 

Her music is… faceless outside of Greedy and Exes, no idea why they didn’t lean more into bops like those. You broke me first was a moderate hit but it’s a relic of a past era atp… you gotta evolve girl

The fact that they even reviewed her to start with shows how desperately they wanted the traffic to their site. Generous score too

Generous 

i'm gonna have to agree with their review number.. 

56 minutes ago, Relampago. said:

Her music is… faceless outside of Greedy and Exes

Yet those are faceless too, so what is the truth???