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. The former is the young woman who readily admits she hates public speaking while accepting an award on stage. The latter is the powerhouse performer who submerges herself in gallons of liquid gold before 100,000 shrieking fans. One writes candidly about the surreal, sometimes melancholy nature of being 22 and navigating global stardom, while the other steps into the fierce persona required to command international arenas.
It is Tatiana you meet when you pass 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 and towering Louboutin leather pumps. Her glossy lips part as her dancer arms wind up the studio wall like tendrils of ivy, while hairstylist Evanie Frausto orbits the scene, smoothing down flyaways with a boar-bristle brush and perfecting her crown just so.
This kind of artistic shape-shifting has a well-known historical precedent. Beyoncé had Sasha Fierce, and David Bowie created Ziggy Stardust. But for McRae, the split is rarely a clean division. Tatiana has become a dominant, recurring presence in her daily life, a persona she taps into regularly both on and off the stage. Like any newly turned 23-year-old, she is still figuring life out under a deeply scrutinizing public spotlight—with no shortage of pressure. Writing music has always been her primary method for untangling who she is, but now, her brand-new fragrance, Tate 01 Eau de Parfum, has officially arrived to help fill in the blanks of her evolving identity.
"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 you’re wearing. It affects how you walk into a room, how you feel," the star shares over Zoom from her New York apartment. Clad casually in a gray sweater and baseball cap while sipping a can of Coke, she is pure Tate in this moment. "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."
Music and perfume, as McRae points out, are two sides of the same creative coin. Both demand deep introspection, born in solitude yet ultimately unfolding in the hands of millions. "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."
This creative journey mirrored the development of her fragrance. She notes that while testing initial concepts, she encountered formulas that might have smelled pleasant, but simply did not feel authentic to who she is right now. A scent that felt right a year ago no longer resonated, pushing her to refine the profile until it matched her current reality.
When conceptualizing what McRae looks like in bottle form, she initially assumed she would gravitate toward a traditional vanilla-heavy profile. Working alongside Givaudan master perfumers Adriana Medina and Antoine Maisondieu, however, she ultimately landed on a sophisticated floral-woody cloud anchored by 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.
Before dismissing another celebrity-founded beauty brand in an oversaturated market, it is worth noting that McRae has been eager to check this box since her competitive dance days. Her approach leans heavily into classic pop-star nostalgia. She is well aware of the Y2K-era comparisons—particularly to icons like Britney Spears, an association she has called both flattering and scary—that delight millennial fans whenever she pays homage on a red carpet or crushes a complex, highly technical dance break. And what did every pop icon secure in the early aughts? Their own signature perfume.
"Creating a fragrance is the pinnacle of being a pop singer in my head," McRae says with a grin. While she has already secured a Grammy nomination, headlined Lollapalooza, performed twice on Saturday Night Live, and earned her first invite to the Met Gala, the thought of delivering a breathy, signature brand whisper in a fragrance campaign feels like the true peak of stardom. She recalls looking up to her idols and assuming a signature scent was a given. Gathering her favorite references from ’90s supermodels and timeless bottles helped her align those historic touchstones with her modern identity. When asked about her favorite pop-girl scent, she names Ariana Grande’s Cloud as her number one, noting that Grande’s catalog had a profound impact on her growing up.
That late ’90s and early aughts influence shines directly through the fragrance itself. Heady and luminous at first spritz, Tate 01 evokes the kind of glamour traditionally paired with a generous wash of body shimmer. During production, her secret lab sample was circulated under the code name "Bombshell" to prevent leaks, honoring its sultry origins. Yet beneath the glamour lies an unexpected softness and intimacy, achieved through hedione—a note that mimics a fresh breeze moving through a bed of flower petals—and Iso E Super, a synthetic molecule that interacts with individual skin chemistry to create a personalized dry-down. Combined with creamy, honeyed notes of orange flower, moss, and tonka bean, the fragrance captures an emotional duality that mirrors a typical Tate McRae track list.
McRae has successfully mastered the art of the sad banger: raw, vulnerable lyrics paired with syrupy vocals and high-energy dance beats designed to make listeners cry in the club. Hits like "She’s All I Wanna Be"—where she belts out lines about feeling unable to compete over a fast-paced pop-punk rhythm—highlight this inherent contrast. Naturally, 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 explains. The finished perfume is neither strictly Tate nor 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 focal point for her upcoming fourth album. While keeping specific details under wraps, she acknowledges that developing the fragrance served as a crucial missing piece of the puzzle. "I’m thick in the world-building of it all," she says, noting how establishing a signature scent helps define a character’s physical presence, aura, and energy when writing songs.
The visual campaign for Tate 01, captured in Saint Bart’s by legendary photographer Mario Sorrenti, has been instrumental in shaping this new character. Drawing inspiration from timeless ’90s supermodels like Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, and Claudia Schiffer, McRae found the collaboration to be a full-circle moment. Sorrenti famously photographed Kate Moss for Calvin Klein’s Obsession fragrance campaign in the 1990s, defining an entire era of unpolished fashion photography. For McRae to work alongside him—especially fresh off her stint as the new face of Calvin Klein denim—felt like cosmic alignment, providing fresh inspiration for her ongoing songwriting and mood-boarding sessions.
As the New York shoot wraps up, McRae pauses in front of the vanity mirror, her reflection caught in a moment of stillness while her team prepares for her next appointment. It is a fleeting second in a whirlwind schedule, capturing the essence of the artist caught right in the middle of her two worlds—a space where worlds continue to be built.
Shop Tate 01 Eau de Parfum
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
