Hi, everyone. Tooththony Picktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Tate McRae album, So Close to What.

Yes, here we have a new LP from Canadian pop phenomenon, singer, dancer, Ms. Tate McRae. Her third official studio album and the second she has released since having a big viral blowup off of some singles to come from her last LP in 2023, Think Later, which was a bewildering album, honestly. I didn't really see what was so appealing about it. I'm talking about more than just my personal taste here as McRae's basic lyrics, muted vocal delivery, and uninspired cover art signaled a severe lack of creativity.

There's something about her sound on this album that just feels so stale and old, and not even in a cool, nostalgic, looking back to the Y2K era way that is so hot and popular and trendy right now. I mean, sure, a lot of the vocal performances on this record and melody choices felt deeply inspired by the likes of Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, some Pussycat Dolls for a good measure, too.

But with Tate, it's like we're getting all of the narrow creative constraints of commercial mainstream pop, but without any of the boldness that made this type of music so glamorous and alluring and fun.

And in a pop landscape currently that is so varied and colorful and sometimes quite eccentric, I just don't really see how McRae stands out. I mean, I guess it proves there's always going to be a market for very normal, easy to digest vaguely sexy pop, which she pretty much serves up once again here.

Now, granted, I think McRae has gotten better at it on this album, especially when it comes to working the sexy angle of it all. Tracks like "Two Hands" and "Sports Car" are downright salacious. Though vocally, I think I would still have a hard time picking McRae out of a lineup of similar singers. The cover, again, signals a void of inspiration here on some level. She's posing away from the camera, facing a side profile of herself? I mean, I guess it's a step up from improper use of hockey gear.

The instrumentals are pretty competent on this one. Way more booming beats this time around. The songs are decently structured, too. The choruses are a bit sweeter and more memorable, especially when it comes to the melodies. The vibes and ideas across this record may be pretty basic, but I will say the album isn't laughably devoid of anything interesting like Think Later was.

You actually have some very bare bones lyrical narratives that are worth following along with somewhat, be it on "Miss Possessive, which is the opening track. It's a very catty competition anthem about McRae essentially having to keep other women who are into her man away from him while she's two drinks in as well, apparently. It's a very smooth sounding cut, but it's got an attitude to it, too.

There is "Revolving Door" as well, where McRae pretty much portrays herself as being addicted to this guy that she is just obsessed with. No matter how many times she leaves and tries to cut herself off from him, she ends up going back.

And there's also "Blood on My Hands", which features some decent vintage dance floor beats, a very ghost town DJ Jay's type vibe. And we have the opposite narrative going on with this track. McRae has essentially moved on romantically on this song, and the guy who she used to be with was essentially shocked at just how quickly he got flush trashed down the toilet, and now she is on just doing her own thing, got a new guy. Though I will say the Flo Milli feature on this track is the boldest thing to occur on this album for songs in thus far.

I do think the lyricism on the album gets a bit more interesting as desperation starts to ratchet up. Because on "Dear God", we have McRae essentially making this impassioned plea to God, get this man off my mind, get the memory of him out of my head, the vestiges of his presence be gone.

There's also "Purple Lace Bra", where she is singing pretty in-depth about having to use sex appeal and sex constantly in order to keep this guy's attention and get him to show any level of interest in her, which is a pretty sad and heart-wrenching admission. There's a grandiose string arrangement that opens up the entire track, too, that sounds fantastic.

There's also "Sports Car" that I mentioned earlier where the temptation gets quite intense with a club-friendly pop banger here that has since that are a mix of quirky and exotic. It's like some classic Timbaland magic going on here with the beat, something I could imagine Nelly Furtado on top of.

So yeah, these tracks are fun, they're catchy, even if there is a bit of mixed messaging going on in the lyrics from cut to cut, which we also get on the gratingly toxic "Signs", which is a song that's all about, You should know what I'm saying, even though I am saying entirely different things, and you should be interpreting them all accurately, even though I am not saying those things that I am actually wanting to say — which if that sounds confusing, that's because it is. It's just like some bullshit normalization of very unhealthy communication habits, honestly, within the context of a relationship.

Then Tate McRae teams up with The Kid LAROI on "I Know Love", which is like watching the most boring couple you know from high school post their vacation photos to Instagram.

"It's Okay, I'm Okay" was a big single to this record. While, again, I think the booming drums are a nice change of pace from many of the blander instrumentals from McRae's last LP, this is one of at least several key moments on the record where I feel like the percussion really overshadows her very limp, breathy, baby-type voice.

If I'm being honest, the entire second half of this record is dismal, in my opinion. I think McRae and her collaborators paint themselves into a corner pretty quickly on this LP, though. I guess if you're very into the meager sounds and ideas that this record offers, maybe this could just read to you as consistency.

I will say this, though. We do have a decent acoustic ballad as a closing track on the LP, where McRae ponders on lost dreams and opportunities others have dealt with, and she likens the loss of this love, this relationship that she's on about in the tracks in a similar way, saying that her nostalgia for it or this person didn't really hit until they were gone.

Look, I'll say this. This album didn't really blow me away. It's not really going to be in heavy rotation for me throughout the rest of the year, but I do think it is an improvement on McRae's last LP. Instead of being laughable, this album here is actually listenable. Were McRae to actually start delivering some vocal performances or lyrical ideas that were a bit bolder and more distinct, I could actually see her being some real creative competition on the contemporary pop landscape.

But until that happens, I'm worried about whether or not she'll just continue to make very bland reinterpretations of oughties pop and just leave it at that, which is why I'm feeling a strong 4 to a light 5 on this thing.

Anthony Fantano, Tate McRay, the Forever.