No, really, we’re fine. We’re FINE.
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: She’s on a world-conquering run as our least essential pop star — the sounds here are big and confident, but everything else seems actively anti-hook; her delivery swallows up all her best lines, the frantic intonation on the hook less indicating a louche coolness and more sounding like she realized midway through she was slightly offbeat. At its best, this sounds like a demo for some more charismatic figure — a remix could give this a purpose!
[4]
Will Adams: Tate assures you she’s fine, but the beat says otherwise. The gigantic drums recall the of crowded-ness of “Tipsy,” the pecking synths recall the laser-focus of “Me & U.” “It’s ok, I’m ok” is, well, okay as mid-aughts throwback; it could’ve been better with some intelligible vocals.
[5]
Alfred Soto: How you respond to this Ariana Grande-fied example of post-therapy pop will depend on your taste for Tate McRae’s barely there squeak. She shows more panache in the video, where she moves like a practiced TikTok influencer.
[6]
Harlan Talib Ockey: “It’s ok I’m ok” suffers from “Look What You Made Me Do” syndrome, where a strong, dramatic pre-chorus collapses into a repetitive chorus with far less energy. The lyrics do have an interesting premise, with McRae warning another woman about her useless ex, but the entire second verse could’ve used a line editor. Actually, the pre-chorus is the strongest part lyrically, too. And vocally, since McRae sounds like she’s struggling to keep up with some of the vocal runs in the verses. And production-wise, with its lightly menacing synth pads. In short, keep the pre-chorus, maybe rework everything else.
[4]
Taylor Alatorre: The title, with its double-talk defensiveness, reads less like a confident strut and more like a shaky reply to the new girlfriend’s debatably sincere attempts at consolation (“sorry I took your man…?”), which puts a damper on whatever karmic power play is meant to be felt here. And if McRae doesn’t want me reading that much into it, she should consider singing in a way that makes looking up her lyrics sheet feel less like uncovering the Rosetta Stone.
[3]
Grace Robins-Somerville: This is beyond cursive singing — it’s like the paper’s been soaked through and the cursive ink is running to the point that it’s indecipherable. Every time someone tries to push the Tate McRae second-coming-of-Britney narrative that’s been forced in waves over the past two-ish years, it’s the closest we get to living in a real-life version of HBO’s The Idol. Remember The Idol? I kinda miss The Idol.
[2]
Katherine St. Asaph: Extremely 2000 Max Martin in sound — those synth stomps are vintage “It’s Gonna Be Me” — but not in structure; Cheiron-era Max would never have allowed the final chorus to dissolve into ether. I’d love to hear the song where she realizes she isn’t ok and snaps.
[7]
Jel Bugle: It’s very Britney! I don’t think Tate is going to trouble the upper echelons of pop with this one. It’s a pleasant enough bop, but somehow the title of the song describes everything perfectly (was this intentional?). I wanted to like this more, but there is nothing that hooky here.
[6]
Dave Moore: Louie from the Pop Pantheon podcast went viral the other day pointing out that this sounds less like Britney Spears and more like Ashley Tisdale, but a seasoned mid-aughts C-list teenpop connoisseur could tell you this song would have gone to Vanessa Hudgens. And the shoe fits — “basically what we’re going to do is dance” is Tate McRae’s whole thing!
[5]
Aaron Bergstrom: Faithful “Me & U” homage over store-brand “Grindin'” drums, a perfectly fine idea for a pop song that doesn’t seem to have moved beyond the idea phase.
[4]
Nortey Dowuona: Is Ilya secretly on pgLang? Is this pgLang trying to make a play for the pop charts? Cuz it’s well produced, slick too, but the main voice is so thin and childlike it doesn’t register. pgLang could’ve just released the Bri Steves and Baby Keem song instead.
[2]
Ian Mathers: Pre-COVID, for years, I used to do a lot of music trivia at bars. My team was pretty good! I’ve got a trophy from when we won the summer-long tournament run by the hardest one we went to. There’s a fair amount of “name that tune from a snippet” type questions in those. This feels like one I would have a tremendously scoring any points on, even for artist.
[5]
Mark Sinker: Don’t care was made to care.
[8]