Tate McRae on Morgan Wallen ‘What I Want’ Backlash: “It’s Crazy to Think That One Song Could Define a Whole Person”

As the excitement builds ahead of Tate McRae's new single, ‘Housewife’, which is largely expected to be the lead single from her next album, the pop phenom has sat down for an insightful interview with W Magazine. During the conversation, the ‘Sports Car’ hitmaker addresses the backlash she received over her Morgan Wallen duet, ‘What I Want’, which led to many fans accusing her of being ‘MAGA’.

While Wallen's fanbase largely celebrated news of the collaboration last year, a number of McRae's followers responded with outrage at the Canadian's choice of duet partner. McRae has underlined in other interviews that it was “just about the song”, as well as stressing that she thinks it's “pretty obvious” where she stands politically.

Although Wallen has made a concerted effort to never speak about his personal political beliefs, many commentators assume, rightly or wrongly, that he leans more towards the right than the left. Many fans ran with this narrative, and started labelling McRae as being ‘MAGA’ simply through her association with the country titan.

In her interview with W Magazine, McRae gives a vague but telling answer when discussing the furore, “It’s crazy to think that one song could define a whole person. There are many aspects of my personality that three-quarters of my audience has no idea about. You hope one day you figure out a way to show all aspects of it”.

It's undoubtedly a valid point, because after all, McRae has never shied away from her love of country music. The ‘TIT FOR TAT’ singer-songwriter has performed with Megan Moroney on two occasions, as well as revealing that she's been drawing inspiration from the late and legendary Dolly Parton for her forthcoming album.

But as McRae hints in her response here, just because she loves some elements of country music, and perhaps some elements of Wallen's music, it doesn't then mean that she supports everything that either the genre or Wallen himself stands for.

Even if Wallen and McRae's political ideas don't align - which, again, we just don't know - does this really mean that they can't still appreciate one another's music and artistry?

It's a sad and ultimately two-dimensional development that, in an era where genre-blurring and cross-pollination of artists across different styles of music is greater than ever, there are still certain fans that hold onto the idea that, to work with someone, you must agree with everything they believe in, politically or otherwise. We loved ‘What I Want’, and we're hoping that McRae still has plans to dabble a little more in country music, perhaps through a collaboration with her friend Moroney.