Tate McRae

Tate McRae is having a moment. With her latest album, So Close To What, surging toward the top of the Billboard 200, the singer-songwriter stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday (Feb. 25) to reflect on her whirlwind year.

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During her chat with Fallon, McRae reflected on her first time performing with boyfriend and fellow singer, The Kid Laroi, who appears on her new album, as well as the shock of discovering her entire project had leaked weeks before release.

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McRae and Laroi’s collaboration, “I Know Love,” marks their first official duet, but the singer admitted to Fallon that singing together didn’t come as naturally as some might expect.

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” she told Fallon. “I mean, the first time we ever sang in front of each other was actually at my MSG show last year.”

She described the awkwardness of rehearsing for that moment. “You just, like, fake sing in front of each other all the time,” she said. “So, like, even when we were at our show last year, we were sitting in soundcheck like, ‘Are you going to sing first?’”

McRae laughed as she recalled their time in the studio together. “It was the same kind of situation in the studio. I was just like, ‘Can you, like, not listen?’”

Beyond the excitement of her new album and collaboration, McRae also opened up about a nightmare scenario for any artist—her album leaking weeks before its official release. “I was sitting in the bathtub, and I get a DM from one of my fans, and they were just like, ‘Here’s the link to the whole album,’” she revealed. “And it was like five weeks till the album was gonna drop.”

“I call my mom, call my therapist,” she admitted. “I mean, it’s just hard because I feel like it takes away all your control as an artist. You want to deliver your art exactly how you want it to come out.”

Despite the setback, McRae took the situation in stride. “I feel like we turned it around and added some more songs,” she said. “I think that’s the only thing you can really do in a situation like this, is just take advantage of it.”

Fallon then shifted gears, bringing up an unexpected feature on the album—Sydney Sweeney’s surprise cameo on So Close To What track “Miss Possessive.” “I was in Pilates and ran into Glen Powell,” McRae explained. “He was like, ‘Oh my God, I was just talking about you with Sydney Sweeney!’”

To her shock, Powell pulled out his phone to reveal that Sweeney had sent him a voice memo about McRae. “Sydney was like, ‘I’m obsessed with Tate McRae!’”

That moment led to McRae recruiting the Euphoria star for a voice cameo. “So, I got her to be on the song!” she said.