The world has always known that Tate McRae is a pop star who can dance (she first came onto the scene on the television program So You Think You Can Dance). With her third studio album, So Close to What, releasing on February 21, the Canadian-native wanted to push boundaries like she’s never done before—taking herself from a young pop star to a grown-up force to be reckoned with. While the 21-year-old is a noted “girl crush” among young people on the internet, she’s still singing and dancing her way to becoming a household name. Her new single “Sports car” may get her there.
Directed by Vogue’s very own Bardia Zeinali and styled by Brett Alan Nelson, the video transforms McRae from a “girl crush” to a pop star with a capital P. Featuring 12 different looks—from archival pulls to current ready-to-wear pieces—McRae joins the ambitious ranks of pop stars like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, who both clocked outfit changes in the double digits for their “Formation” (2016) and “Bad Romance” (2009) music videos.
“There was so much discomfort with this video,” McRae tells Vogue. “I wore wigs for the first time, which was a risk for me because I’ve always had my hair and my look. But Bardia and Brett, for this video, pushed me in a scary direction. I think I got to show so many characters that I didn’t even know existed.” Despite the singer’s past as a competitive dancer, the 5’8” star is usually dancing in flats. “I’m a big sneakerhead, so for me, to walk around in a heel and dance in a chair was something we’ve never done before,” she says. “Figuring out where to put your weight and your pelvis to be able to dance and balance was fun to play around [with].” The risk proved to be a success—with the singer pulling off an early 2000s pop star aura comparable to a young Britney Spears while dancing away in seven-inch platform heels.
Ahead of the long awaited release of “Sports car,” McRae, Zeinali, and Nelson sat down with Vogue to discuss the making of the latest music video and the fashion that inspired it all.
Vogue: What was the inspiration behind “Sports car” and the music video?
McRae: This was such a fun song to write. I wrote it with Julia Michaels, Ryan Tedder, and Grant and we wanted to kind of capture the adrenaline of love, sex, and the excitement of it all. I felt like a sports car reminded me of that feeling of love, and like you are right in the middle of it. We referenced the Ying Yang twins with the whisper chorus and it ended up being really fun.
Zeinali: I heard the track and it resonated with me immediately. I grew up on this type of pop music—like Britney, The Pussycat Dolls—and that kind of really hot pop vibe which I felt right away. I wanted to be a part of creating a visual that felt like the MTV level of visuals we grew up on. From there, I was eager to try to come up with a concept that gave space to show how multidimensional Tate is. I came up with the idea of the rooms and the viewer, and performing for a viewer and for your audience. And then in the end realizing that there was an Easter egg, and that the viewer was actually Tate and she was reflecting and looking at herself.
Were there any references you pulled ahead of the shoot?
Nelson: I took over creative direction on this album cycle for Tate. From the beginning I wanted to do something different and I really wanted to push the limit and do something almost a bit uncomfortable. For me it was about pushing her and pushing archival fashion—and as much couture and fashion as I could get in. Fausto Puglisi is one of my dearest friends and to get the leopard print corset she wears in the beginning, the Cavalli team could not find it anywhere. So I went on a deep search on the internet and funny enough, something popped up on my Instagram a week before the prep. There was a place in Los Angeles where they were selling it so I was like, I have to buy it and keep it for my archive.
Zeinali: I was looking at a lot of fashion and a lot of editorial pieces. It was about making the set look photographic. Marcell Rév, who shot Euphoria and who I did Vogue World: Paris with, has that very kind of refined eye that understands lighting in a photographic way but also understands cinema. So I also really wanted to beautifully meld those two worlds. One the scenes, with the room with the horse in it, was supposed to have Tate in a different look, but it felt too on the nose. When we went with the more feminine Versace look and did the wig, it just made a lot more sense in the same way a fashion editorial does where you play with a theme and then you subvert it on its head a bit. When you’re composing something and something is too obvious, it almost feels like it isn’t uncomfortable enough—so you have to kind of think about it differently in a way that maybe isn’t most obvious.
Did you have a favorite look from this music video?
McRae: Well my stylist and creative director Brett, went crazy. We got to fit in 12 looks which is the most we’ve ever done in one day. But the Cavalli corset—the cheetah look with the hat, which was the first shot of the day—has actually been saved on my Pinterest mood board for years. So when Brett started pulling all these archival pieces from the runway, I started freaking out because this was something that I had literally referenced.
Nelson: It’s so hard for me to answer this because even though we fit 12 looks, there was so much more. I had six racks of clothes and it kept getting better and better. I mean The Blondes made this imitation pony like look which I was obsessed with and those Alexander McQueen pony shoes. I don’t know, I was obsessed with them all, and there’s a couple that didn’t make it in, but we will see them in future Tate projects. They all held such a special place in this viewership of who I saw Tate McRae as, so I feel like I would be doing a disservice if I just pick one.
Zeinali: I loved the Versace look. Everything about that performance—from the beauty to the room and the horse. It was such a heightened reality that was so beautiful and soft at the same time. I always try to find a natural pastoral world into the worlds that I’m building. I'm vegan and it was all humane and safe to have a horse on set. But to me the Versace look with the horse felt so fashion and so editorial. It felt Meisel-like, the long Versace kind of hair, that red canvas backdrop.
Did the fashion get in the way of the dancing at any point? And from a stylist’s point of view, did you have to keep in mind that Tate’s music videos incorporate more intricate moves when you were pulling pieces?
McRae: This was the most difficult video to move in because I wanted to honor the pieces and make sure that the outfits laid well and looked good. But in some shots I was wearing six to eight inch platform heels where I was like this is actually impossible to stand in. I’m such a sneakerhead so for me to walk around in heels is an issue. And for one of the scenes, I had to be in heels and a chair. Learning where to put my weight and where to put my pelvis to be able to dance with heels while also balancing and moving quickly is such a skill.
Nelson: Tate is the epitome of a dancer. She’s been doing it since she was a kid. This video wasn't about the dance, though she was always going to move. I walked into it not thinking of the dance moves because I didn’t want it to constrain us from losing out on a good fashion moment. I mean, we had the Viktor & Rolf pieces that no one has ever shot before, and I’ve been obsessed with since the runway. And obviously she couldn’t do much in those looks but it was more about the fashion and pushing this element of her.
What can fans expect from Tate and the release of her latest album?
Zeinali: Well I got from that first call that I had with Tate that she was really down and eager to be transformative and push it in every aspect of beauty, fashion, movement, and choreography. To me, as a director, it’s always the most exciting thing about working with an artist—their openness to push themselves and play in spaces they’ve never been before.
Nelson. You don’t realize it until the end, but Tate is watching herself in the video. In all of these different settings, you’re watching Tate in a way we’ve never experienced Tate McRae as. The big picture of all of this is that you are in control of your life, your relationships, and your fashion. Even though your fans have this idea of you, in the end you are in control. She’s a beautiful woman and I’m a fashion kid, so I wanted to transform her.
McRae: With this album, there’s a lot of experimenting. It’s way more daring lyrically and musically than anything I’ve ever put out before. I feel like it was such an exciting thing for me to do, to be able to sit in the chair in the opening and be the watcher. Being in my position, I’m opening the doors for everyone to judge and watch me and put out their opinion of me. This video felt like I was taking back control and owning it, because this time I get to judge myself and see the different sides of me first. You can do it later, but I get to do it first.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Some more exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from set below:
