Tate McRae has spent the bulk of her career being two people at once. There is Tate and there is Tatiana—one born, one built. There is the version of her who openly admits she hates public speaking while awkwardly accepting an award, and then there is Tatiana, the powerhouse who submerges herself in gallons of liquid gold before 100,000 shrieking fans. There is Tate, the 23-year-old who writes in her downtime that it is a little sad, but still fun, and then there is Tatiana, the shape-shifting stage presence.
It is Tatiana you meet when you step through the industrial doors of an airy, white-boxed New York studio. Her eyes are drilled straight into the camera lens, buttery blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders, all limbs wrapped in a Miu Miu minidress paired with towering Christian Louboutin leather pumps. Her glossy lips part as her dancer arms wind up the studio wall like tendrils of ivy. Meanwhile, hairstylist Evanie Frausto orbits the scene, smoothing down flyaways with a boar-bristle brush and zhuzhing her crown just so.
This kind of artistic duality has historical precedent in the pop industry. Beyoncé famously introduced the world to Sasha Fierce, David Bowie immortalized Ziggy Stardust, and yet for McRae, the psychological split is rarely so clean-cut. Tatiana has become a dominant, recurring presence in her life—someone she taps into regularly, sometimes daily, both on and off the stage. Like any newly turned 23-year-old navigating an intensely scrutinizing public spotlight with no room for error, she is still figuring life out, and writing music has always been her primary outlet for untangling who she really is. Now, her brand-new fragrance, Tate 01 Eau de Parfum, has officially arrived to fill in the remaining blanks.
McRae’s connection to scent is deeply intertwined with her creative process. Speaking over Zoom from her New York apartment exactly 24 hours prior to the shoot, she is pure Tate. Clad in a casual gray sweater and a baseball cap while sipping on a can of Coke, she reflects on her daily routines.
"I’m always wearing perfume—before bed, before shows, and before writing sessions. I do think it affects how you approach the song. It’s the same thing as what clothes you’re wearing. It affects how you walk into a room, how you feel," she shares. "Creating my own perfume, I wanted to encapsulate the sensual, fresh tones I’ve been wanting to walk into this next year with. I feel like it highlights a different part of my creative expression."
For McRae, music and perfume operate as two sides of the exact same creative coin. Both require deep introspection, both are born in moments of absolute solitude, and both ultimately unfold in the hands of millions of listeners and fans.
"You’re in a constant search of ‘Who am I?’ in these creative outlets," McRae explains. "You can write songs with other people in mind. You can reference other people or old music, but at the end of the day, you’re writing to see what sounds the most like yourself. You’re describing yourself—why you’re interesting, why your perspective is different from any other artist."
She notes that the experience closely mirrored the fragrance development process, where she frequently had to evaluate whether a specific formulation truly felt authentic to her current identity or merely represented who she was a year ago.
When beginning the journey of capturing her essence in a bottle, McRae initially assumed she would gravitate toward a traditional vanilla-heavy scent profile. Working alongside Givaudan master perfumers Adriana Medina and Antoine Maisondieu, however, she took an unexpected turn, ultimately landing in a sophisticated floral-woody cloud dominated by notes of bergamot, clary sage, orange flower, moss, and tonka bean.
"As a 23-year-old who wants something for every single day—going to a workout class, going onstage, going to bed—I wanted to create something that I’m addicted to. I don’t get sick of this scent ever," she says.
While some might be tempted to roll their eyes at yet another celebrity-founded beauty brand entering an already oversaturated market, McRae’s venture has genuine roots. She has been itching to check this box since her competitive dance days, and her overall approach serves up pop-star nostalgia at its finest. She is well aware of the frequent comparisons to early-2000s icons—most notably Britney Spears, an association she has previously described as both "flattering and scary"—that inevitably cause millennial hearts to race whenever she pays homage on the red carpet or executes a flawless, highly technical dance break. And what did every pop icon worth their salt secure in the early aughts? Naturally, a signature perfume.
"Creating a fragrance is the pinnacle of being a pop singer in my head," McRae says with a wide grin.
Even though she has already landed a Grammy nomination, headlined Lollapalooza, performed twice on Saturday Night Live, and secured her first invite to the Met Gala, the thought of breathily whispering her name in a fragrance campaign still represents the peak of stardom.
"I remember looking at my idols being like, ‘Well, of course.’ I’ve always dreamed of this day," she continues. "So it’s been fun gathering my favorite references, which are a lot of ’90s supermodels and timeless bottles, and comparing that to my current brand."
When asked about her favorite pop-girl scent, Ariana Grande’s Cloud ranks number one on her list. Despite the constant comparisons to Spears, McRae has frequently noted that Grande’s catalog had the most significant impact on her musical upbringing. Indeed, when McRae’s own track floats through the speakers during the photo shoot, both she and the crew find themselves singing along, sharing a brief moment of mutual rhythm before she locks right back into character.
That signature 1990s and early-2000s influence shines through clearly in the fragrance itself. Heady and luminous at first spritz, Tate 01 carries the kind of glamorous allure that feels destined to be paired with a generous wash of body shimmer. During the shoot, a secret lab sample slipped over as a preview was even labeled "Bombshell"—a code name utilized to prevent leaks and a direct tribute to its sultry Y2K roots.
Despite this unmistakable glamour, the perfume maintains a distinct softness and intimacy. This is achieved through hedione, a molecule that evokes a fresh breeze blowing through a carpet of petals, alongside Iso E Super, a synthetic element that reacts directly with individual skin chemistry to create a personalized dry-down. Set against the creamy, honeyed warmth of orange flower, moss, and tonka bean, the scent produces an emotional contrast that closely mirrors a typical Tate McRae track list.
McRae has successfully mastered the art of the "sad banger"—delivering raw, vulnerable lyrics set against syrupy vocals and high-energy dance beats that can simultaneously make a listener cry and dance in a crowded room. Tracks like "She’s All I Wanna Be," where she belts out questions of inadequacy over a fast, pop-punk rhythm, highlight her appreciation for emotional duality. Her debut fragrance reflects that exact balance.
"I wouldn’t describe myself as super girly or super tomboy. I feel like I sit right in the middle. As a dancer, there’s this feminine and sensual vibe, but then I’m also relaxed and sporty. That was the contrast I was looking for," she notes.
Ultimately, the perfume is neither strictly Tate nor strictly Tatiana. "It’s a mix of both. The person who I created this perfume for is the girl that I would want to walk into a room and smell like and the girl that I would show up onstage as. That girl is right in the middle of Tate and Tatiana."
That exact persona also serves as the thematic subject of her highly anticipated fourth studio album. When pressed for updates on the upcoming musical era, McRae admits she is "thick in the world-building of it all." Her gaze drifts toward a far-off place she is keeping firmly under wraps, though she acknowledges that finalizing the fragrance provided a crucial missing piece of the puzzle.
"I now know what the girl smells like, that presence when she walks into a room, which is so interesting to think about," she explains. "When you’re writing an album, you start to think, ‘How does she dress? What does she smell like? What does she feel like? What’s her aura? What’s her energy?’ It’s been fun to add a little element that I usually never think about into my songs."
The visual campaign for Tate 01, captured in Saint Bart’s by legendary model-turned-photographer Mario Sorrenti, has been equally integral in shaping this new character.
"A big reference of mine is ’90s supermodels: Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer. I always look at them as timeless and feminine, and that really came to life when we shot this campaign," McRae points out.
Sorrenti famously shot Kate Moss for Calvin Klein’s iconic Obsession fragrance campaign back in the 1990s—a collaboration that skyrocketed both of their careers and defined an era of gritty, unpolished fashion photography. For McRae to team up with him for her debut fragrance launch, particularly as the newly appointed face of Calvin Klein denim, feels like a moment of cosmic alignment that has left her deeply inspired.
"Getting this aesthetic and painting this world has honestly been a catalyst for how I feel walking into my songwriting sessions and the mood-boarding process," she adds.
As the New York photo shoot winds down, McRae guides visitors toward the hair-and-makeup station to briefly clarify a stray interview question. "Oh god, what did I say," she jokes with a quick flash of everyday Tate breaking through the high-fashion Tatiana glam, looking momentarily sheepish and unsure. After chatting for a couple more minutes, it is time for her next scheduled press appointment, and the room begins to transition. Catching a final glimpse of the artist over her shoulder, her gaze remains trained on her reflection in the vanity mirror, perfectly still while her team flits around her to prepare for whoever comes next. It forms a fleeting snapshot—the girl caught right in the middle of it all—proving that entire worlds can be built in a fraction of a second.
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Tate By Tate McRae
Tate 01 Eau de Parfum
Photographer: Emily Soto
Stylist: Lucy Gatson
Editor in Chief: Kat Collings
Creative Direction: Natalia Sztyk
Hair Stylist: Evanie Frausto
Makeup Artist: Kali Kennedy
Entertainment Director: Jessica Baker