Tate McRae has 'no regrets' over Morgan Wallen collaboration
Tate McRae has addressed the backlash to her Morgan Wallen collaboration and lip-syncing accusations.
Tate McRae has spoken candidly about her decision to team up with Morgan Wallen, insisting she has “no regrets” despite the controversy surrounding the country star.
The pair joined forces on the track What I Want on Wallen's album I'm The Problem, and ever since fans started speculating that Tate would appear on the album, there were some strong opinions on social media, with one person even calling her “MAGA Barbie”.
An X user commented: "tate mccrae collabing with Morgan Wallen she is the MAGA barbie y’all accused Addison [Rae] of being (sic)"
One wrote: "Come on Tate, you're better than this."
Another penned: "tate mcrae collabing with morgan wallen...... i’m actually so disappointed in her rn (sic)"
Morgan has come under fire a handful of times, including for his 2024 arrest for reckless endangerment after allegedly throwing a chair from a rooftop bar. He also faced cancellation in 2021 for using a racial slur, which resulted in his music being suspended from radio stations.
Further to this, he stormed off the stage during his appearance on Saturday Night Live in March, and later insisted he was just ready to leave.
He later posted a photo of his private jet with the caption: "Get me to God's country.”
Some believe he was simply eager to return to his home in Tennessee, while others speculated that it could have been a politically motivated move.
In a new cover interview with Rolling Stone, the Canadian singer explained that her roots made the collaboration feel natural.
She said: “Honestly, country music is huge where I’m from. My brother’s always been a rabid country-music fan. I’ve always wanted, at some point in my life, to do folk music or country, and I probably still will in the future.
“I just got the opportunity to do a country song, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ I wanted to cross genres really bad. It was just about the song for me. I didn’t realise how much a song would be connected to all the other factors, and it really shocked me.”
Asked if she regretted working with Wallen - whom she has never met in person - Tate was firm: “I don’t think you should regret anything in life, because it gives you so much clarity. I think controversy and criticism is a way of learning and figuring out what you want to move forward with, and how that shapes you as a person. I think it’s all important.”
The Sports Car hitmaker also addressed the pressures of online scrutiny, including a viral clip that mocked her for singing into an upside-down microphone.
Tate brushed off the criticism: “There’s just so much that gets misconstrued online. You have to have humour with it, otherwise you would go insane. I sang two seconds later, and they cut the whole clip off. I’m just like, ‘Oh, this is a joke. There’s nothing I can do to defend this, because there’s too many things to defend.’”
