Tate McRae Shocked at Backlash Over Collab with Morgan Wallen
Pop sensation Tate McRae enjoyed a successful 2025. However, one moment might have dampened what could have been an incredible year for her: a controversy that she never expected. Her…
Pop sensation Tate McRae enjoyed a successful 2025. However, one moment might have dampened what could have been an incredible year for her: a controversy that she never expected. Her high-profile collaboration with country star Morgan Wallen on the duet “What I Want” became a chart-topping success and rubbed some of the fans the wrong way.
Tate McRae and Morgan Wallen’s Collab: A Hit with a Surprise Reaction
Wallen released “What I Want” as the fifth single from his fourth studio album, I’m the Problem. But the response to the track was mixed. While many loved hearing McRae expanding her repertoire and crossing into country music territory, others were quick to voice their disappointment with her choosing to collaborate with a controversial star like Wallen.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the “Greedy” singer shared how much she loves country music: “Honestly, country music is huge where I’m from. My brother’s always been a rabid country-music fan. I’ve always wanted, at some point in my life, to do folk music or country, and I probably still will in the future.”
She added, “But I honestly just got the opportunity to do a country song, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ And I wanted to cross genres really bad. It was just about the song for me. I didn’t realize how much a song would be connected to all the other factors, and it really shocked me.”
“I Don’t Think You Should Regret Anything in Life”
McRae was called a lot of things on social media even before the song was released, with one even predicting it would be the end of her career: “Today marks the END of whatever “tate mcrae” was. thank god.” Another tweeted, “tate mcrae collabing with morgan wallen...... i’m actually so disappointed in her rn.”
However, the Canadian singer-songwriter disclosed she doesn’t regret their duet even one bit: “I don’t think you should regret anything in life, because it gives you so much clarity. I think controversy and criticism is a way of learning and figuring out what you want to move forward with, and how that shapes you as a person. I think it’s all important.”
The pair proved their haters wrong. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Wallen’s fourth No.1 (not bad for his first track featuring a female artist) and McRae’s first. With the song performing well, despite the controversy, we wouldn’t be surprised to see her collaborating again with other country stars in the future. Perhaps Megan Moroney?
