Tear Myself Apart: A Post Break-Up Anthem By 16-Year-Old Tate McRae

By Christianne Gormley

Canadian singer-songwriter Tate McRae has debuted her first single of 2019 after signing with RCA records this year,“Tear Myself Apart,” a track (and accompanying music video) that represent who she is as an artist overall, stripped and vulnerable.

Gaining spotlight as the second runner up for Season 13 of So You Think You Can Dance, the competitive dancer took her talent and love for songwriting to her YouTube channel, where she won the hearts of her 1.82 million subscribers and accumulated 60 million streams on her covers and originals.

With already over one million views since premiering, the music video for McRae’s “Tear Myself Apart” introduces a co-existing, dramatic simplicity with piano chords, eerie background vocals, and static beats that hit home alongside her post-breakup lyrics.

“It’s a very dramatic and intense song, but it’s real and honest,” McRae said. “It’s easy to get caught up in a relationship and take everything out on yourself. ‘Tear Myself Apart’ comes directly from the heart.”

The hazy, pastel-toned video for the track brings you into her room—where all her videos started—as memories of her significant other haunt her in the background. While singing, McRae brings expression to another level, featuring interpretive dance that compliments her melancholy lyrics.

The confessional chorus, “I’m left alone to tear myself apart / You make it look so easy, turn around and leave me / I’m left alone to tear myself apart,” can relate to anyone, and explains the layers of emotions one might feel after losing someone and analyzing what is left. This video was pure, honest, and relatable to the many times we, as humans, put weight on ourselves as a result of searching for validation from someone else.

Through McRae’s YouTube channel, I saw how much she had evolved as an artist; today, she’s been creating some of the best anthems of self-discovery for our upcoming generation: for the in-betweeners, introverts, and extroverts, like myself. She had mentioned a couple of times on her channel that she writes music to express everything she could never say out loud, which I feel is a true sign of a great artist.

In prep for tour, McRae continues to feed her “Teenage Mind” by creating and writing songs, including one that explores how it would sound “if VSCO was a song” —yes, these are both songs she has written.

You can keep updated with her upcoming projects and on her YouTube channel and all her social medias (Instagram, Twitter).