Hollie McRae to make her rallying debut Jimmy and Hollie McRae will compete together at this year's McRae Rally Challenge (September 20-21) Words by rallying – let alone competing – just was not part of her life “I think at some sort of subconscious level there was part of me that just avoided rallying for a long time,” Hollie McRae tells DirtFish “But I think it was also this subconscious thought of I had big shoes to fill and I just suddenly thought I’m never going to be the next world champion so I don’t really know how else to fit into it I probably tried lots of other things before being brought back to motorsport.” with Hollie’s interest growing and growing Her way has been through the media – establishing her own company specialising in social media and presenting She continues: “But the fact that I’ve been able to find my way back to the sport in a way that suits me through the media stuff has been really special I left the McRae Rally Challenge last time [in 2022] after the Saturday because I had to go and graduate for my primary education course It was a totally different journey from what I’m now doing “But having found my way back into the sport in a way that suits me has been really special because I think it proves to other people that I’m doing it from an internal drive It’s not to try and match whatever any other McRae’s done in the past.” The arrival of this September’s McRae Rally Challenge will be a symbolic moment in that regard But perhaps mostly because it won’t just be Jimmy Hollie will be competing – jumping into a yet-to-be specified car with her gramps “I feel like it’s been a long time coming and it’s definitely one of the questions I get asked most whenever I’m at an event: when are we going to see you driving a rally car?” Hollie says “Co-driving was actually first discussed between gramps and I two years ago for Rally Legend and I thought it would be a nice thing to do with my grandpa were just getting bigger and bigger.” Hollie sat with her uncle Alister during a Legends event in Sweden but has never actually competed in rallying before but hadn’t totally left Jimmy’s mind Having spent the day with his granddaughter at last month’s European Rally Championship opener he sent her a text message: would you like to co-drive for me at the McRae Rally Challenge “Considering it’s something I’d geared myself up for before and it didn’t happen and it would be a nice way to experience a very special event “We’ll see how it goes!” September 20-21 will clearly be an emotional weekend for Jimmy who of course does have experience of sitting in a rally car with both of Hollie’s parents before “I co-drove for Colin at the Galloway Hills – when we first bought him the Nova I said I would do the first rally with him,” Jimmy tells DirtFish but then there was a part of one of the stages that I knew pretty well Suffice to say Colin would forge a career with Derek Ringer and Nicky Grist instead But what about Jimmy bringing Hollie in later this year – it might sound obvious “We saw that Hollie had applied for a competition licence and she was getting more and more interested in it Now that she’s doing all the media stuff maybe get her in the seat and let her see what it’s really like,” he replies It’s just a great opportunity for Hollie to get involved “What she’s done in the last two years is just unbelievable,” Jimmy adds “She knows more about the sport now than I do “It’s obviously in her blood.” The million-dollar question is: will Hollie ever drive a rally car Hollie has driven at DirtFish Rally School before which prepped her well for any future outing “I feel like if you’d asked me that question a year ago turned bright red and run in the opposite direction the more the intrigue is there,” she reveals “I think 2025 is the year of taking on different opportunities and trying to get over this fear of spectators I’ve literally said for the last two years – my answer has been if there is a rally with no spectators “But the idea of people watching me be slow in a rally car puts the fear of God into me But that’s not going to change if I don’t give it a go.” Tags: , , 2025 DirtFish https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/05/Photo-28-10-2024-2-41-42-PM-1-scaled-e1746439987453-780x585.jpeg May 5 Sign up today and be the first to know about special offers Legal This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page or TikTok and “X,” where her occasional brushes with virality have bolstered her young music career that track remains her second-most streamed on Spotify The elder singer’s influence extends to songs that don’t explicitly mimic her it’s in the frail opening bars and haunted peripatetic imagery of “Savannah”; in the delicate blend of daydreams and nightmares on “Daffodils,” with its taut wrenching encapsulation of cyclical abuse: “He cleaned my clock he bought me daffodils.” The songs are simply arranged and sparsely populated; McRae is largely alone with her thoughts or with men who are disappointing or something more sinister nostalgic pop palette McRae deploys across the album to help counterbalance its weightier material Such documentary instincts can make for dense lyrics Yet the clarity and conviction with which Jensen sings draws your focus to every word Her voice is expressive and pliable—soft and drifting one moment grooved and throaty the next—and she seems to chew on each phrase that passes her lips as on “Tuesday,” a maudlin piano ballad where she invokes Judas and Brutus (a near-perfect rhyme those bastards) to capture her own feelings of betrayal Compared to the song’s relatively muted arrangement McRae’s theatrical vocal performance here feels overwrought All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter from Santa Monica California talks with her hands and uses words in conversation that only a writer with a monstrous vocabulary would know It’s crucial to understand that the musician whose sophomore album I Don’t Know How But They Found Me is a writer first — a perspective she’s held since she was just a young girl armed with a pen She tells me she’s more Nick Carraway than Jay Gatsby a main character who makes the conscious choice to narrate one more invested in recording than carrying the plot on her back But McRae says she’s “endured” so much plot over the past two years of her life — including a string of viral singles opening for Noah Kahan's North American tour world-shattering breakups — that she found she had enough narrative thread to weave a sophomore album together ‘You're so good at being sad,’” McRae laughs Her diaristic and almost journalistic tendencies make for rich lyricism and vast world building in her songs and paired with the ageless texture of her voice Jensen McRae’s music is basically designed to weld a broken heart this is why McRae's music is connective accessible: everybody knows the stunning pain of love Jensen McRae sits down with Teen Vogue to discuss writing her genre-expansive second full-length album her dreams of collaborating with Kendrick Lamar and how she’s repeatedly written her way through the ends of many worlds Teen Vogue: The album is excellent and it's tight and I was so impressed by how decisive it felt That's what I want to start with: This project really does feel like such an evolution in your sound and people don't talk about it enough How do you feel you've changed as a songwriter since your last project?Jensen McRae: I think evolution can totally be painful the painful part was the things I had to go through in my personal life to be able to make this like being able to do something physically that you've been training to do for a long time and finally executing it for fans of mine who listened to the first album and have been sitting with it for a while this won't feel like a huge left turn by any means But I appreciate the term “decisive,” because that is what I feel was a big part of this process I did not want this to be an album with skips on it — and obviously no one wants that no artist wants that — but there are a lot of people who are like “I wrote so many songs for this project and I want to put them all out because I love them so much.” Yeah there's a lot of songs I wrote that I love in the last couple of years but this is going to [include] only the ones I am certain are going to stand the test of time I don't know if other people are going to like it!" No Having an 11-song album — the runtime on a lot of the songs I just really wanted it to be so focused and tight and I also want people to want to go back and listen to it again You listen to the whole thing and you're like I need to go back and listen to it all again That's what I want people to have with this album Bao NgoTV: The length of the album did surprise me a bit I think especially compared to Are You Happy Now "It's over?" What criteria were you using to try to whittle down all of that potential “fat” How many songs are actually in your vault from this album-making process?JM: The number of songs in the vault is incalculable [Laughs] In terms of songs that were really in contention there's probably another 10 to 15 songs that I thought about and really liked — which is not to say that those will never come out because they might — but the [biggest] part of the criteria was just making sure I wasn't repeating myself This album tells the story of these two relationships that happened in close succession and I wanted to touch on a lot of different nuanced parts of the healing process The thing about going through that healing process is you end up writing about the same sensation or the same incident many many times in order to get it right or to process it I wanted to make sure that every song that ended up on the album was the best representation of that feeling or that period [and avoid repeating] something someone else had already said and you can't punish yourself for feeling like you take a step forward and then two steps back You can't punish yourself for actively grieving multiple relationships at once You can't punish yourself for processing genuine trauma and heartbreak… Feeling like a breakup is going to kill you is a natural human feeling Nesrin DananWhen you're in the thick of it I feel like most people have one of those in their life where [they're] like you get to a point where you don't feel that way anymore For anyone who listens to this album when they're in the actual trenches I just want them to know: I believe you that you feel like the world is ending It's a really interesting thing to figure out what album had just come out when you went through your breakup — for me, it was SOS by SZA Fans of mine are going to listen to this a week after they got dumped “This album is now defining my breakup era.” JM: Back To the Future is a movie basically for kids [but] it's a great example of a super linear hero's journey “This album's about how healing isn't linear.” When you're going through something that is so confusing you want to escape into a story where there's a beginning The evolution that Marty McFly goes through is super clear and he's a different person at the end of the movie You watch that evolution happen in a way that's relatively easy and frictionless and I think that's a really comforting narrative thread to be following when you're going through something that is the opposite of frictionless because it's about two relationships that happen back-to-back it's like— I didn't have time to process the first one because I just escaped into the second one “Savannah” is a great example of what I realized You still have to process the things that have happened to you “I shouldn't have to be dealing with this How did these emotions and these scary things catch up to me when I was running away from them as fast as I could?” You don't have a choice Everything that's inside of you is going to remain inside of you until you confront it and actually get it out of yourself through therapy It's one of the other big messages of the album: the only way out of that pain is to go deeper into yourself and really sit with it JM: That one, I actually fully was like, “I'm writing an anthem today.” [Laughs] I literally had that goal in my heart. I wanted to write a song called “Let Me Be Wrong” for a long time, I thought that was a cool title. Then, when I wrote it, it was a couple of weeks after I got back from being on tour with MUNA and I had sang “Silk Chiffon” with them a few times I just had this feeling like I needed to have moments like that in my own live show So I came back [wanting] to write a song that is very buoyant the idea of a second album was just a mirage in the distance I want there to be a moment in the show where everyone's screaming and jumping and feels like they can really release everything.” “Trying to Be Brave,” or trying to be braver and not even necessarily just about myself I'm having to probe my own life and my own stories more but also writing about the world more critically and trying to tell other people's stories or other kinds of stories The few songs I've written in the last few months… I feel like I've been moved by that more than writing about myself there's not a whole lot going on in my personal life right now… It's me being a lot more philosophical and [taking a] bird's eye view and trying to write about things that are much bigger than me Caity KroneJM: I feel like you still are focusing on yourself in a way You're focusing on your specific somatic experience of collective experiences In my recent iterations of going to therapy because I'm very good at intellectualizing my feelings and my therapist will stop me as soon as she hears me doing that And can you breathe into that part of your body and move through the physical sensation of what's happening to you?” It's made me pay a lot more attention to the physical sensation of my feelings because something that she taught me [is] if you're thinking it in your head with words So now I pay a lot more attention to my physical body and to the physical sensation of what accompanies my racing thoughts and I try to transmit that into those songs because I'm like if I'm feeling like my stomach is in knots or I'm dizzy and lightheaded surely someone else is also experiencing this “I know exactly what you're talking about.” What are everyday human experiences that are still going on while the world is undergoing this massive shift and how can I focus on both the individual human somatic experience of historical events and how the quotidian events of everyday continue to go on during historical events and how can talking about both of those things still feel like it's addressing this massive elephant in the room Because that's what's most compelling about archiving life and archiving everyday life and you still have to pick up your kid from school The world doesn't stop moving when you're grieving and the world also doesn't stop moving when your country is undergoing a big shift or when there's a natural disaster in your city That's the feeling I think I'm trying to get at Bao NgoTV: What frequently fascinates me about the body of work that you're building is imagining what Jensen McRae's legacy will be with your discography There really is something to be said about your discography answering these hyper-specific moments in your life but also responding to the things that are going on in all of us When you first wanted to be a songwriter and a musician was being “a voice of your time” ever your intent “I'm going to write about the stuff that's going on and affecting me”?JM: When I was little My belief in myself and my talent far outstripped my actual ability for a very It's only now that it's starting to catch up to itself I still have so much to learn as a songwriter I thought the songs I was writing at 13 should have won Grammys and [the historical moment] that we grew up in “So I'm not going to live through anything I spent my whole childhood thinking I'm not going to be an activist because I'm coming of age in a time where there have never been more advancements for women and people of color and queer people "Things are moving in a good direction." And obviously I didn't notice all the horrible omens happening around me that augur this moment now This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from I don't think I anticipated it at all. Even during the first Trump administration I wasn't writing about politics a whole lot It wasn't until the pandemic happened when I wrote that song “The Plague," and it didn't go viral or anything It was a small thing for a group of people who found it But it was in that moment where I [realized] I'm going to feel called to keep writing about all this stuff that's happening because there's going to be more stuff like this When I was a child thinking about my career [and] what I hoped it would be I didn't even really listen to Bob Dylan I didn't know about Nina Simone and Billie Holiday [who] wasn't making political music in the 2000s And I don't take myself particularly seriously I don't think that my music is going to change the course of history by any stretch of the imagination But I do feel like I am good at writing about big things in a way that still feels small and contained and thinkable because I definitely do get feedback from people [saying] “This helped me put into words this thing that is swirling around in my mind.” That's all I want to do: give people who don't have the words I don't think I've earned that at all There's so many people doing so much more than I could or would ever do I think the music itself is activist music it's everyone's job to go where they're needed I don't think I have any business running for office I don't think I have any business doing community organizing I think my job is to make this music that either is soundtracking those events or provides an escape for the people who are doing that work and they just want to come home and put on something that they love I do have plans as my platform grows to hopefully speak to the government and advocate for the causes that are important to me and also [at] my shows and in my spaces to create places that are accessible to everyone… But for myself it's a title that I think even if someone else put it on me thank you.” I think I gave him my phone number and was like or whatever.” And then he just never answered me I sent him “Massachusetts” when it came out but I think it was right before his baby was born here's ‘Massachusetts!'” [Laughs] Again whatever this was [it] was a one-time thing he just randomly was watching all my Instagram Lives for the rollout process and then he came back another time and was in the chat like what's your phone number?” And then seconds later So I went to his house and we had a great time It was me and him and all these other great writers and producers He is an incredibly sweet guy and really loves people and loves being in a creative environment where there's a lot of people working together You know how there's some people that just love to curate a hang I think he just loved bringing us all together in one place And it's been obviously really cool for me to see someone who's been so successful for so long Getting to watch him write was just so… He's one of the most talented musicians I've ever seen in real life The way he would jump from instrument to instrument and the way his voice sounds perfect in the room with nothing on it This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from It's crazy to me that he's inspired by me and it's crazy how sweet he is And I think that's something that I noticed with him and with Noah [Kahan] is these are two people that really all they want to do is just make music all they want to do all day long is either be on stage just jamming indefinitely forever with their friends You would hope that's what all musicians are like JM: I either want to sing a hook on one of his songs or I want to have him have rap a verse on one of my songs I was really resentful… I think it's cool and I was really mad that I had a super unique name I just had Drew Afualo on my podcast and she's a Virgo Sun Words are always going to be the most important thing to me and there's so many lines on this album that I'm really impressed with myself for having written boy / I was never your dog.” I really do love that line a lot Underneath Chappell Roan’s Hannah Montana Wig? 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She Continues to Laugh This summer’s most anticipated non-franchise movie might be F1 the car-racing spectacle that reportedly cost Apple as much as $300 million The film comes from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and it’s got Brad Pitt leading a cast that also includes Javier Bardem It’s probably not easy to sell a megabudget sports movie to the public these days and the people behind F1 have at least one old-school idea to market this thing: A big-deal soundtrack album full of pop stars We’ve recently seen a slight return of big-deal soundtrack albums for blockbuster movies like Barbie and Twisters both as records and as tools to make the movies more omnipresent The F1 soundtrack is coming out on Atlantic the label that released both the Barbie and Twisters soundtracks But where both of those soundtracks had unifying themes — bright-plastic candy-pop for Barbie heartland country for Twisters — F1 mostly just has a bunch of famous people It almost looks like a Fast & Furious soundtrack The upcoming F1 soundtrack has an Ed Sheeran song called “Drive,” which is pretty funny It’s also got contributions from Tate McRae There’s a Sexyy Red/Tiësto collab called “OMG!,” and that seems to be the level that we’re working on here For lead single “Lose My Mind,” Don Toliver and Doja Cat worked with OneRepublic leader and big-deal pop producer Ryan Tedder The song samples Hans Zimmer’s F1 score which does a cool percolating-keyboard thing so maybe that’s why the track sounds so much like the Weeknd It doesn’t have a ton of personality but it should should fine over the closing credits check out the Christian Breslauer-directed “Lose My Mind” video and the F1 soundtrack album’s tracklist and the soundtrack comes out the same day on Atlantic The most important stories and least important memes This summer, Lees-McRae will debut the first-ever Appalachian Young Writers Retreat a week-long camp held on the college’s beautiful campus nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina rising high school juniors and seniors will explore their craft and immerse themselves in a community of fellow storytellers The camp will feature a diverse range of workshops including those that cover reflective journaling The Appalachian Young Writers Retreat is an immersive residential camp and learn on the college’s campus throughout the duration of the program The total cost of $1,600 covers all costs associated with the week-long program Students who will be high school juniors or seniors during the Fall 2025 semester are eligible to apply For more information regarding the Appalachian Young Writers Retreat, visit the program webpage. With additional questions, contact program leadership via email at writersretreat@lmc.edu Apply today President Trump recently celebrated his 100th day in office President Trump has arguably delivered more than any executive in American history and demanded that the globe respect America once again he had to sign more than 140 executive orders a feat no other president has accomplished Many of these orders have worked to revive America from the harms of Biden’s inflationary policies Perhaps most relevant to the Mississippi Treasury he’s worked to secure your financial future I have fought against harmful ESG and DEI policies that threaten hardworking Mississippians’ dollars but the outlook is much brighter under President Trump’s watchful eye I signed a letter alongside 22 other state financial officers urging the SEC and Labor Department to give clear guidance to ensure investment decisions protect financial interests not political agendas this March I signed a letter with more than a dozen other state financial officers highlighting debanking eventually going to the White House to discuss ways to limit this anti-American practice whose family has been a victim of debanking is actively working to reverse the disastrous guidance that allowed for this to occur in the first place and I will do all I can to support him in this mission Simply put: Americans should not be blacklisted for having conservative values While ESG and debanking may not affect every American right now It’s time to cut the size and scope of government – and no one (I repeat no one) has tackled the federal bureaucracy like President Trump and his DOGE team President Trump has kept up a pace of about $1.6 billion of savings per day – and he promises that bigger cuts are still on the horizon This is the scale-back many have been clamoring for Mississippi – and America – are heading in the right direction I will continue to fight alongside President Trump to deliver real change for America I ask that you continue to keep President Trump and all those serving the public in your prayers May wisdom continue to guide the decisions of leader’s and may God’s grace and mercy flow down on our nation Mississippi Treasurer David McRae is the 55th Treasurer for the State of Mississippi. In this role, he helps manage the state’s cash flow, oversees College and Career Savings Mississippi, and has returned more than $100 million in unclaimed money to Mississippians. For more information, visit Treasury.MS.gov Pop star Tate McRae set fans abuzz this afternoon with an Instagram story hinting at a collaboration with Morgan Wallen The 21-year-old singer shared a close-up of an orange Tennessee Volunteers jersey bearing “T8” and Wallen’s initials “MW” on a patch on her socials This tease follows Wallen’s Instagram story last week “I haven’t seen one person guess the female collab on this album correctly yet,” adding intrigue to his upcoming album Wallen’s fourth album will feature 37 songs including five Billboard Top 10 singles like “Just in Case” and the title track “I’m the Problem.” He recently confirmed on X that the album includes his first-ever duet with a female artist Fans have speculated names like Miranda Lambert there seems to be little doubt that his mystery collaborator is Tate McRae View this post on Instagram A post shared by Country Central (@countrycentral) Alec Briggs will line up for the Traka gravel race aboard a very special Canyon Grail CFR His bike has been heavily customised in the style of Colin McRae’s famous Subaru Impreza rally car.  Briggs, founder of and racer for the Tekkerz CC team, arrived in Girona, Spain, ahead of the Traka with possibly the hottest gravel race bike of 2025.  His Canyon Grail CFR features deep blue paint bright yellow graphics and gold wheels that all hark back to Colin McRae’s career as a rally driver McRae was at the sharp end of World Rally driving in the 90s and his blue and yellow Subaru Impreza became an iconic design. Following McRae’s death in 2007, his race cars became highly sought after, with TopGear reporting his ‘555’ car sold for £230,000 in 2017 A post shared by Alec Briggs (@alec_pedaler) Briggs touched on the time he spent playing Colin McRae’s video games and said he wanted to channel the spirit of “if in doubt Briggs has opted for a roadie-influenced build along with some of the coolest wheels we’ve ever seen Jensen McRae is hauntingly poetic on her sophomore album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! “Let Me Be Wrong,” “Novelty” and “Tuesday.” McRae’s newest studio album echoes the feeling of a Tracy Chapman record — picture sitting next to a window as you watch the rain pour down with your heart wide open The singer-songwriter invites listeners to embrace their own healing journeys reflecting on both the hurt they’ve caused and the pain they’ve had to carry The song creates a sense of longing for something that once was McRae continues to catch the eye of music lovers all around the world performing the hit on Jimmy Kimmel Live just days ago The musical prodigy takes inspiration from her own love altering experiences perhaps creating the situationship anthem of the year “Novelty.” The lyrics speak to what could have been a missed connection that leaves a lingering memory: “Your roommates gonna hear me leave / In the morning when the novelty has worn off / From having me.” “The Rearranger” speaks on similar themes following a relationship that seemingly has some hidden issues “I play house her in the June gloom / There goes the neighborhood / We don’t talk about the heavy / Am I even in your plans / If I have your heart forever / Can I have this dance?” McRae’s reputation precedes her as she continues to write heavy-hearted lyrics specifically on “Tuesday,” a track so raw it knocks the wind out of you The piano ballad represents McRae’s emotional baggage after experiencing a one sided relationship and wishing then other person could spend a day in her shoes “If you spent a day in my shoes / You’d know how it feels to be used / To me it was all breaking news / But it was just Tuesday to you / Architect of all my wounds / I’ll be forgetting you soon / ‘Til then I don’t know what I’ll do / Cause it was just Tuesday to you.” “Let Me Be Wrong” is McRae’s pop anthem for letting go of control and embracing the art of being in your twenties. She has finally given herself permission to make mistakes. “Buoyant and joyous and affirming and forgiving,” McRae says. The song was written in 2022 after a tour with MUNA where she was given the opportunity to sing “Silk Chiffon” with them overnight McRae wanted to write a song that evoked that same feeling a song that pushes back against the pressure to maintain a perfectionist persona go rogue and mean / Like those girls at seventeen / They got glass ceilings an rings / Fuck those girls got everything / Something twisted in my chest / Says I’m good but not the best / When I was young that knocked me out / But nothing really shakes me now.” Keep up with Jensen McRae: Instagram // Website // Spotify // X Independent and fueled by love and dedication Donate to fuel us figuratively and literally Mention "☕️" or "coffee" and $5 of your donation will go to a random staff member to keep them energized (WGXA) — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is taking over a case from Telfair County involving the shooting death of a 21-year-old man and the shooter claims they acted in self-defense The GBI said it took over the case at the request of the Telfair County Sheriff's Office and is now looking into the death of Jykerrion Maurice Oliver of McRae-Helena From the initial investigation led by Telfair County the GBI learned that deputies were sent to the location of the shooting on April 18 at around 5:10 p.m. The GBI said the shooter said they acted in self-defense and no charges have been filed at this time Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at (478) 374-6988 or the Telfair County Sheriff's Office at (229) 868-6621 Stick with WGXA where we're keeping you ready for what's next Tate McRae, the up-and-coming Canadian pop star, is drawing criticism for an upcoming song with Morgan Wallen The forthcoming McRae feature marks Wallen's first major collaboration with a woman McRae first teased the news on April 15 after she posted a picture of a jersey with Wallen's initials on her Instagram story Fans flooded McRae's Instagram post from April 16 slamming the "Revolving Door" hitmaker for her upcoming Wallen collab: "I was rooting for you How dare you?" one commenter said while another added "Girl we love you pls cancel that collab with Wallen pls." One person wrote Morgan Wallen used a racist slur but his popularity is skyrocketing. How did we get here? But Wallen fans expressed excitement about the duet on his post with one user's comment "37 SONGS AND TATE MCRAE?? "Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae will literally break the internet." In a Billboard feature published in 2023 Wallen opened up about his lack of collaborations with women in the music industry but declined to name names during his interview with the outlet "I've reached out to a couple of people, and they've turned me down," Wallen told Billboard and I haven't gotten the chance to do it yet I'm going to keep trying to write songs for it or write with them." He added that he "would love" to write with more women Morgan Wallen is one of country music's most controversial figuresWallen has courted controversy for a half-decade in (and outside) Nashville Most recently, the "I'm the Problem" singer served as musical guest on the March 29 episode of "SNL," hosted by Oscar-winning "Anora" actress Mikey Madison When it came time for the signoff at the end of the show the singer walked off the stage immediately after Madison said goodnight Wallen briefly hugged the actress but seemed to ignore the rest of the cast and quickly walked past view of the camera "SNL" episodes typically end with the host musical guest and cast remaining on stage for the entire credits to hug each other and chat Wallen posted a photo of a plane on his Instagram story and wrote He also made headlines last year after he was arrested and charged with throwing a chair off a balcony at Church's rooftop bar in Nashville. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to seven days in a DUI education center and two years of supervised probation And in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis in May 2020 and a series of race-related incidents across America that year Wallen became a focal point in Nashville's controversial dealings with race in 2021 In 2021, a video surfaced of him using a racist slur typically used to describe Black people in reference to another person he was with While his career briefly suffered from the incident newsShe’s Wearing Tennessee Orange For Him: Tate McRae Appears to Confirm Morgan Wallen CollaborationBy Georgette Brookes After much speculation, pop phenom Tate McRae has seemingly confirmed that she is the female feature on Morgan Wallen’s unreleased track We know that Wallen has supported McRae’s music in the past famously reposting her cover of ‘I Had Some Help’ over on TikTok last year “I myself am a huge fan of country music,” McRae revealed when she performed in Nashville last year, before bringing out her pal, Megan Moroney, to sing ‘Tennessee Orange’ it seems that McRae really is wearing Tennessee Orange for him as she posted an Instagram story of an unmistakably orange Tennessee Volunteers jersey this one has T8 (Tate) emblazoned on the front With so many artists making the genre crossover it feels somewhat more acceptable for McRae to sit as a feature on Wallen’s track rather than bring out her own country song Wallen fans have learnt to expect a variety of sounds from his work from classic country to a more trap-infused style Wallen regularly incorporates R&B elements and really pushes the boundaries of what constitutes ‘country music’ A track featuring Tate McRae is a wild-card but one that will sit neatly amongst this this next collection of songs which will seemingly once again see Wallen expanding his sonic horizons The soundtrack for the new Brad Pitt racing-themed film F1 is super-charged with superstar artists F1 THE ALBUM features new songs by Ed Sheeran, Tate McRae, ROSÉ, Madison Beer, RAYE, Roddy Rich, Sexyy Red and even country star Chris Stapleton, as well as “Lose My Mind,” a collaboration between Don Toliver and Doja Cat that’s out now While you’d think that Tate’s hit “Sports Car” would be the song they’d want for a movie about racing her contribution is a new track called “Just Keep Watching.” Ed’s song is called “Drive.” The soundtrack and the movie are both out June 27 a former Formula 1 racer whose career was nearly ended by an accident he’s hired by a former colleague to help turn his struggling Formula 1 team around Here’s the track listing for F1 THE ALBUM: Don Toliver – “Lose My Mind” (feat Doja Cat)Dom Dolla – “No Room for A Saint” (feat It would mean a lot to @brookefoxfox if you all got landline phones ☎️ @brookeandjeffrey Is “QUIET MODE” the future of haircuts ✂️💈 @brookeandjeffrey We’re on Week 4 of the Studio Air Conditioner being broken and @brookefoxfox has taken drastic measures What’s your vote: was that his MOM or WIFE We had SO much fun at the Mariners Opening Week Warmup today and we can’t wait for the regular season to start Spring has sprung and that means baseball season is here Instead of Smash Mouth’s “Walking On The Sun” it’s Young Jeffrey’s.. 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Breakfast Margaritas and the Loser Line: a perfect start to your Monday 🍹 @brookeandjeffrey Here’s what’s happening around Seattle for St Drumroll please…… we counted up the votes and the fan favorites have been added to the bracket it’s always good to have a friend in your corner Where the game is made up and the points don’t matter The last two glorious nights has been "a beautiful blur" with @thisislany at the Paramount Theatre Need help accessing the FCC Public File due to a disability Please contact publicfileseattle@hubbardradio.com or (425) 653-1150 This web site is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area a nationwide collective of collegiate fly-fishing clubs run by Trout Unlimited and Costa Sunglasses holds regional events throughout the United States for clubs in the Mideast While the location of each region’s rendezvous changes every year When senior Biology major Wylie Kendall became president of the Lees-McRae fly-fishing club two years ago and he and the college’s club became part of the organization the college hosted the southeast 5 Rivers Rendezvous for 2025 the first rendezvous to be held on a college campus “When I became president of the club I saw a lot of potential for the school I saw the impact that fly-fishing could have on the students It’s something that I wanted to bring to people here but also in terms of conservation,” Kendall said I knew it was a way that we could help the community and the environment here.” Kendall had begun working with 5 Rivers to plan the rendezvous in the High Country prior to the hurricane but after the storm caused severe damage to the majority of the region’s campsites He coordinated with leadership at 5 Rivers and with President Lee King pitching the idea to host the rendezvous on the college’s campus The South Campus property would be perfect for camping The continued recovery efforts that remain necessary following Hurricane Helene provided for the conservation element of the rendezvous “[President King] jumped on it right away and thought it was a great idea and also an opportunity to help out the community here,” Kendall said Earlier this month the 5 Rivers Rendezvous was held on campus Approximately 80 students from 13 collegiate fly-fishing clubs across the Southeast—including from clubs at Clemson University and Georgia Institute of Technology—made their way to the High Country for the rendezvous Over one weekend the fly-fishers cleaned up an estimated 10,000 pounds of debris from along the Elk River and throughout the Elk Valley Preserve and planted more than 5,000 native North Carolina live stakes along the streambank in an effort to restore the riparian area that had been largely demolished by the storm Hurricane Helene’s record-breaking winds and rainfall displaced significant amounts of trash and debris Clean-up efforts to remove that trash and debris Live stakes are live cuttings trimmed from trees in the winter months while growth is dormant allowing them to root and sprout once they are staked into the ground “With the canopy cover that got removed by the hurricane it’s basically going to make the water bake during the summer so what we did will hopefully provide the canopy back over the river and help protect all the species that are living in it,” Kendall said “Our hope is that this is going to help provide that support for this river anything that happens upstream in a river is going to affect downstream The Elk River is a pretty important tailwater for other river systems so what comes out of ours goes into theirs Hopefully in some way or form it’s going to be able to help other areas too.” Kendall said that the organization’s investment in the environment and local wildlife extends far beyond the fish they catch as part of their sport many fly-fishers operate on the principle of catch-and-release The 5 Rivers Rendezvous exemplifies the organization’s investment in healthy stream ecology more broadly and other amphibians as well as water birds and aquatic insects all call the Elk River home Debris cleanup and live staking efforts like these will benefit all these creatures as well as the surrounding flora and fauna Kendall was recently awarded the Edgar Tufts Humanitarian Service Award at the 66th annual Honors and Awards ceremony for his vision and leadership with the college’s fly-fishing club “We’re coming into a world where it’s getting much more important to conserve the resources we have but so the next generation can see it,” Kendall said “I have traveled across many parts of the world to amazing locations like Alaska and Wyoming where the land is pretty much untouched you realize that this is something worth keeping The same thing goes for every area around us It’s important that we conserve these resources not just for the sake of mankind but for all the interacting ecosystems.” Learn more about the Lees-McRae Fly-Fishing Club Learn more about 5 Rivers Tate McRae and The Kid LAROI have been romantically linked since January 2024 Jordana Comiter is an Associate Editor on the Evergreen team at PEOPLE Her work has previously appeared in Women’s Health Magazine Kevin Mazur/VF25/WireImage for Vanity Fair We keep you informed. my friend Jenna and I were sitting in the Cook Out parking lot drinking our milkshakes we were sitting in the Cook Out parking lot drinking our milkshakes and listening to the highly anticipated album drop: “So Close To What” by Tate McRae.  “So Close To What” as an album strikes me as the older sister to her previous album “Think Later,” with similar electronic beats and a continuity of McRae’s sonic style but showcasing a more mature and grown-up version “Think Later” has the rawness and vulnerability of a coming-of-age album; “So Close To What” adds on to these emotions with introspection and more sexiness and confidence The album opens with “Miss possessive” with Sydney Sweeney over a beat saying “No seriously get your hands off my man.” This sets the tone of the album perfectly McRae asserts herself as a woman you would not want to mess with warning the girl in the song that she knows the game she's trying to play.  “Pretty girl gon’ learn your lesson / Some fights you’re never gonna win” sums the energy of this song up for me The next track I love is “Revolving door” in which McRae is explaining her pattern of returning to the same partner even though she knows it’s not good for her The bridge of the song is  “Life feels worse but good with you in it,” showing her desire for a feeling that won’t end well The music video was released 30 minutes after the album drop and the visuals and choreography in it — my words cannot do it justice Another highly anticipated song was “Dear god,” which McRae teased on her TikTok on Dec Listening to this one for the first time had me dancing immediately The beat is addicting and the lyrics are so catchy the lyrics reflect the complicated feelings about how McRae would do anything to forget about a past partner This song is a classic example of her skill in layering honest vulnerable lyrics over the most danceable music imaginable “Purple lace bra,” the next song on the album This one is my favorite because of the bridge It comments intimately on how McRae feels like the industry responds to her when she plays into the “sexy pop star” stereotype I’m losin’ my head / You only listen when I’m undressed / Hear what you like and none of the rest” show how McRae feels like her songs are often only taken at face value While she has songs that are definitely just upbeat her discography also has examples of her emotions throughout many stages of her life and fame Listening back to the rest of the song after the bridge it’s clear how she describes the fine line between being empowered in your sexuality and being sexualized by society the album ends with “Nostalgia,” which embodies the sound of McRae’s ballads of her earlier career The beginning of the chorus with the lyrics “Lately where does the time go?’ / You never really know / ‘Til you’re standing in the bathroom mirror” really reflects the “what if?” feeling that haunts many people It closes the album in a way that reminds me of my favorite songs of hers and how they encapsulate the uncertainty of growing up so well While there are songs that I felt were nothing new from her such as "No I'm not in love" and "Greenlight," there are no songs I dislike from the album.  I’m excited to get to see McRae’s growth in her career What a great time to be a college girl and love pop music @dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com Sports company PUMA has appointed Tara McRae (48) as the President of PUMA North America (PNA) a role in which she will oversee the company’s business in this strategically important market who until recently led PUMA’s Marketing and Brand Strategy in North America will with immediate effect take over the role from Bob Philion who will leave PUMA after 20 years with the company and eight years as President of PNA to pursue opportunities outside of PUMA “With Tara, we have appointed a leader with a great understanding of our consumers our industry and the North American market,” said PUMA Chief Commercial Officer Matthias Bäumer “I strongly believe she has the experience and the strategic mindset to help us succeed in this crucial market I want to thank Bob for the past eight years as the President of PNA a time during which we put PUMA back on the map in North America and I wish him all the best for the future.” Tara rejoined PUMA as Senior Vice President Brand and Strategy in 2024 she worked at Clarks as the Global Chief Marketing Officer and Digital Officer She also became the first Chief Marketing Officer at TB12 Tom Brady’s global health and wellness brand she already worked at PUMA North America between 2006 and 2016 where she held different positions in the media planning and sports marketing departments before taking on marketing responsibilities for the region.  Tara is also a strategic advisor for Relentless Consumer Partners and a non-executive board member at kegg Her work has been recognized in multiple leading industry awards most notably as a member of the 2024 Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO 50 list the beloved professional theatre series hosted by the college each summer returns for the 2025 season with an exciting line-up of three new productions to celebrate 40 years: “Nunsense,” “The Cottage,” and “1940: A New Musical.” The season opens with “Nunsense,” showing from Sunday The musical-comedy follows the Little Sisters of Hoboken convent as they attempt to raise funds to finance the burial of sisters accidentally poisoned by the convent cook “Nunsense” will be a pay-what-you-can production and all proceeds will support Lees-McRae Summer Theatre All showings of the production will be performed at Banner Elk Presbyterian Church “The Cottage” will debut on the Lees-McRae Summer Theatre stage in Hayes Auditorium this comedy is a straight play that follows the affair of two lovers secretly meeting in the English countryside a hilarious web of secrets begins to unravel “The Cottage” is not suitable for children The final production of the 2025 season will be “1940!,” which will show in Hayes Auditorium from Friday Set right here in the High Country at Mast General Store against the backdrop of the recently ended Great Depression storytellers and musicians gather to spin yarns and sing songs This is the latest mountain musical from the team who brought us “From the Mountaintop: The Edgar Tufts Story” and “The (W)right Sister,” Lees-McRae Summer Theatre Director Janet Barton Spear “Banner Elk has met the challenge of Helene and is moving forward.  Most everyone had doubts about if we would recover in a timely manner and although some areas will take years to fix we have learned how to recover,” Speer said “Lees-McRae Summer theatre is back to three shows. ‘Nunsense’ and ‘The Cottage’ are tried and true belly-laugh comedies ‘1940!’ is a new musical view of the famous storytellers in our area who faced their own major flood We invite you to laugh and learn with our three productions. Laugh with the nuns and the ever-so-funny British and learn how our founders taught us the way to weather the storm.” Learn more about Lees-McRae Summer Theatre 2025 The soundtrack accompanies the upcoming action film starring Brad Pitt Atlantic Records has announced the details of F1 The Album, the star-studded soundtrack to Apple Original Films and Warner Bros.’s upcoming action flick F1, starring Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Damson Idris. The film, directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) revolves around a Formula 1 race car team on the verge of collapse Executive-produced by Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer F1 The Album is due June 27 and features new tracks from Ed Sheeran Don Toliver’s “Lose My Mind,” featuring a barnburner of a verse from Doja Cat dropped yesterday alongside a visual effects-heavy music video document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "ae9a9cf11679f892b9e672ce43953170" );document.getElementById("facec42938").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment Your browser is ancient! Upgrade to a different browser or install Google Chrome Frame to experience this site If you’ve found yourself panic-googling “cheap Mother’s Day gifts” at the eleventh hour CVS has a lineup of under-$25 gifts that are thoughtful and look way more expensive than they actually are As The Everygirl’s resident Tate McRae stan (self-appointed here’s my ranking of every song on the album This song is the perfect anthem for all the anxious attachment girlies out there I don’t see it becoming a staple in my playlists Tate shines brightest on upbeat pop tracks more emotional songs just don’t stand out as much to me My personal measure of danceability is low for this one There isn’t a single song on this album that I actively dislike blends into the rest of Tate’s discography a little too easily but there are other songs with a similar vibe on the album that I gravitate toward more As a Cancer I know the struggle of wanting people to read your mind when it comes to emotions all too well the song itself didn’t immediately wow me—but I can see it working its way up my personal ranking as time goes on This is for everyone caught in the cycle of an on-again, off-again relationship unable to break free from that one toxic ex but it’s also not one I’d actively add to my playlists In a world where Green Light by Lorde exists it’s tough to release a song with such a similar name and not compare them And not to pit female artists against each other and that alone almost bumped it up a few spots and I can already picture the inevitable TikTok dances that will come from it But when stacked up against similar tracks like Sports car and It’s ok I’m ok It’s sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack for me Maybe I’m just a sap, but I love when artists feature their boyfriends on a track. It’s giving Barry Keoghan and Sabrina Carpenter in the Please “I know love what it is what it is” isn’t exactly profound lyrical poetry but it’s been stuck in my head since my first listen and I’ll definitely have this one on repeat this sounds like a song about a romantic relationship but it’s actually about Tate’s complicated relationship with the music industry The lines “You only listen when I’m undressed” and “I’m losin’ my mind ’cause giving you head’s the only time you think I got depth” had my jaw on the floor If anyone dares to reduce Tate’s talent to sex appeal this song spoke to me on a spiritual level It has a subtle country influence that I wasn’t expecting it’s also the reminder I constantly need to live in the present instead of obsessing over the past or future I didn’t think a slower song from her would crack my top ten Apparently, this is Tate’s personal favorite from the album, and honestly, it’s up there for me too. Flo Milli’s verse is simply iconic, and the song itself is the ultimate breakup anthem for when you’re in your “the best revenge is living well” era. If you’re looking for the soundtrack of your post-heartbreak glow-up but I won’t be shocked if 2 hands claims the title by June This one was so close to cracking my top three, but it just barely missed the cut. That said, I’m still completely obsessed. It has the same energy as Olivia Rodrigo’s jealousy where we get to fully embrace the pettiness of jealousy with no shame This is an automatic addition to my “getting ready to go out” playlist If you told me this was an unreleased Ariana Grande song from her Thank U It perfectly captures that frenemy dynamic when you think someone is your bestie they’re secretly rooting for your downfall I don’t have any opps like that in in my life but that won’t stop me from playing this on repeat until I’m absolutely sick of it Tate absolutely nailed the singles for this album This song cements her status as a full-fledged pop princess right beside the likes of Sabrina Carpenter and Dua Lipa If you somehow still have any doubts about Tate Mcrae’s talent just watch a single clip of her performing this live Lauren ideates and writes content for every facet of our readers’ lives Her articles span the topics of must-read books travel itineraries—and everything in between When she isn’t testing the latest TikTok trend she can be found scouring Goodreads for new releases to feature on the site Exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox we lift the institution to its full potential and create an educational environment where students can thrive.   ONE Lees-McRae is designed to deepen the bonds among all those who love the college and community members together with meaningful events and engagement opportunities and provides an avenue to connect more closely with the college.   find upcoming events as well as resources to help you get more involved.   For those who love the college and resonate with our mission we are providing more ways than ever to get involved and support new generations of students     ALUMNI     COMMUNITY    FAMILIES        FRIENDS      STUDENTS   Upcoming Events Come together as ONE Lees-McRae on March 14 for the Triangle Chapter Kickoff at the home of Alumna and Trustee Julia McCombs ’75 in Fuquay Varina Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application son of Helen Carr Bigham and Richard Franklin Bigham His formative years were spent in the Steele Creek area of Mecklenburg County Roger was a graduate of Olympic High School he worked in the electrical construction industry He spent the first part of his career in the Charlotte area before moving to Sylva 18 years ago Roger enjoyed being a casual student of history Roger is survived by his fiancé/ partner of 15 years Other survivors are Richard Bigham and wife Karen of Weaverville NC and Mary Larkin Hoffman and husband Brian of Lake Wylie Also surviving are nieces and nephew Mac Hoffman Roger was preceded in death by his parents He was also preceded in death by a special young lady who was much like a daughter to him A gathering to remember Roger will be held at a time and place to be determined This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Subscribe To The Newsletter to receive relevant stories googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-hero-single-1');}); jQuery(window).on('load',function(){header_js();});jQuery(document).ready(function(){menu_close_button();});jQuery(document).ready(function(){cookieyes_btn();}); .cky-btn-customize{display:none} LifestyleBLACKPINK’s ROSÉ And More Rev Up In The New ‘F1’ Movie SoundtrackThe lineup also includes the likes of Doja Cat By AND TATE MCRAE: Courtesy of Atlantic Records and @tatemcrae The full artist lineup for the soundtrack of the upcoming F1 movie has been announced, featuring BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ, Ed Sheeran, and Tate McRae among others Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) the Apple Original Film stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes a former Formula One driver who makes a comeback and partners with an up-and-coming rookie teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) The first track from the 17-track compilation album, “Lose My Mind,” was released on April 30. It features rapper and singer-songwriter Don Toliver, alongside GRAMMY-winning rapper-singer Doja Cat Check out the full track list of F1: The Album below: Pre-save the album here As we anticipate the film and the album arriving this June listen to “Lose My Mind” below: To build anticipation for the film, an F1: The Album event will take place during the Miami Grand Prix weekend from May 2 to 4 the activation will be held in a private VIP Paddock where fans can experience the APXGP team garage recreated from the movie coinciding with the film’s theatrical release in the United States The film will be released in Philippine cinemas on June 25 © 2025 Modern Media Group Inc. is a subsidiary of AGC Power Holdings Corp. All rights reserved. Instead of innovating, new pop artists are leaning into a deliberately superficial sound that references the 00s. Where millennials were embarrassed to love The Pussycat Dolls and similarly ‘trashy’ artists, Gen Z are embracing and replicating this style to emptier effect. But, asks Gregory Robinson I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice After dabbling in melodramatic bedroom-pop, Tate McRae steers straight into the early-2000s lane with her latest single “Sports Car” It was a time when hip-hop met glossy pop and everything sparkled (including the diamanté flip phones) it’s a love letter to an era of Tamagotchis and mainstream club tracks you could really dance to But with whispered vocals layered over revving motor sounds, the pop star conveys an ode to lust without pushing the boundaries like fellow pop princesses Britney and Christina did with songs like “I’m a Slave 4 U” and “Dirrty” “Sports Car” has no intention of being dirty or bold; it is meant to be a bit of beige fun Fans and critics alike drew immediate comparisons with The Pussycat Dolls “Nasty pop girls are so back and I’m so here for it,” one fan wrote under McRae’s music video which features her performing at a peep show bass-heavy pop of the 2000s is now being re-evaluated Where critics once decried “Buttons” as “style over substance” and dismissed its parent album PCD as vapid today’s listeners hear something else: simple escapism Gen Z – those born from the late 1990s through to the early 2010s – are reclaiming music once labelled as “guilty pleasure” and ditching the guilt who once embodied the height of the tacky manufactured pop star are now celebrated as icons of a nostalgic sound and aesthetic that feels oddly comforting in 2025 McRae is part of a new cohort of Gen Z artists reworking Y2K influences into something fresh “It makes sense,” says pop critic Michael Cragg “that kids who loved those acts have grown into artists themselves and are now referencing them ‘Sports Car’ sounds so much like ‘Buttons’ that it’s clearly not accidental.” Cragg points to a broader shift in critical thinking: “The mid-to-late 2000s saw the emergence of ‘poptimism’ which was about viewing pop music with the same critical eye as was afforded to rock who’d grown up on the pure pop of the late Nineties were starting to view things differently to the older generation.” 75 per cent of Addison Rae’s listeners – and 69 per cent of Tate McRae’s – are aged between 26 and 35 suggesting that older Gen-Zers and younger millennials are drawn to music that echoes their tween years many Gen Z fans weren’t even around for 00s pop This is where anemoia comes in: a term that means nostalgia for a time you didn’t live through “Gen Z can build an emotional connection to the past through digital archives and internet culture,” says existential psychotherapist Eloise Skinner Emerging stars like McRae and Addison Rae don’t aim to be ‘the first’ Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial. Terms apply. ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. “Pair that access with recent tendencies to churn and burn through ‘micro-trends’ and you create a whirlpool that’s pretty easy to drown in. When we’re inundated with so much, nostalgia begins to feel like something we can wrap our arms around.” Even McRae herself has leaned into comparisons with Britney Spears, calling them “flattering and scary”. Pompilio argues that many emerging stars, like McRae and Addison Rae, don’t aim to be “the first” – they want to be “the next”, paying tribute to a long lineage of pop archetypes. Rae’s “Diet Pepsi” and “Aquamarine” thrive on a “lexicon of references”. But when does homage become lazy? James Kirkham, branding expert and founder of the consultancy firm Iconic, warns that endless recycling of past aesthetics – what theorist Mark Fisher dubbed “hauntology” – can dilute originality. Especially when artists face the daunting task of releasing music in an environment where a staggering 100,000 new tracks hit Spotify daily. “Today’s Y2K revival isn’t just referencing the 2000s,” he says. “It’s referencing a TikTok interpretation of the 2000s – already twice removed from the source. We’re entering an era where nostalgia feeds on nostalgia, creating a Russian doll of references increasingly distanced from their source material.” Of course, nostalgia loops are nothing new. Cultural sociologist Dr Richard Courtney notes that a 20-year nostalgia cycle has long existed. By 2003 – the year that Tate McRae was born – young people were fascinated with the futuristic synthesisers and cheesiness of songs from the 1980s. Having grown up in that decade, Courtney remembers seeing a sudden surge in appreciation for music that was not considered “cutting edge”, but instead basic pop: tunes like “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive, or anything by Spandau Ballet. This shift in perception was thanks to older millennials. “Nostalgia is where we’re constantly walking into the future with our backs turned towards it, looking at the past,” he says. But streaming’s new democratisation of taste has further blurred the lines between “real” and “manufactured” music. “There’s less embarrassment about what you like,” says Pompilio. “Young listeners today can enjoy Depeche Mode and The Pussycat Dolls side by side.” Kirkham agrees: Gen Z care more about “vibe” than traditional ideas of artistry. They weren’t part of the discourse that tried to label The Pussycat Dolls as empowering or exploitative. Instead, they experience it all through a post-irony lens, where sincerity and superficiality can coexist. This sense of freedom makes the bubblegum pop of the 2000s feel almost revolutionary. In a world of crisis and discourse overload, its simplicity is a form of release. “The straightforward hedonism of a Pussycat Dolls track feels almost revolutionary now,” Kirkham says. For emerging girl group Sweet Love – whose 1.3 million TikTok followers enjoy their upbeat, Y2K-infused sound – fun is the point. “Creating something catchy and memorable is an art,” they say. “If it’s about getting ready with your girls to go out, we’re all for it.” Even ironic detachment has become part of the charm. Hilary Duff’s “With Love” choreography – once panned for its blankness – is now adored for being exactly that: so unserious it’s iconic. TikTok trends, including revivals of songs like Heidi Montag’s “I’ll Do It”, have pushed nostalgia into charitable territory: following the destruction of Montag’s home in the LA fires, fans bought her album Superficial en masse, pushing it to No 54 in the Billboard 200. Maeve from Leeds pop duo Lucky Iris grew up loving The Pussycat Dolls, thanks to the Pop Princess CD she owned, as well as Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. She sees this era of pop as playful and lighthearted above all else. “Heidi Montag making a comeback is incredible,” she says. “It’s that crossover of reality TV and pop. She knows how people see her, and she’s leaned in – and we love it.” For many fans, last summer marked a new golden age of pop-girl supremacy. The recognition of Charli XCX with brat, the stratospheric rise of Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan’s breakthrough all coincided with a newfound love for Y2K pop icons. “Gen Z and millennials are revisiting this music because it reminds them of a time that felt simpler,” says 23-year-old Tate McRae fan Ciara Allen. Unsigned pop artist Amelie Jat, who released her debut album for the plot in 2023, is savvy to this Gen Z trend. She’s now pivoting from “sad girl songs with metaphors” to what she calls “nonchalant pop”: carefree, girly, and fun. “People want escapism,” she says. “This kind of pop wasn’t appreciated before because it wasn’t seen as deep.” To older ears, these charting tracks might sound tired – or even AI-generated. But to Gen Z, they are thrillingly empty. And, as Jat puts it, it works because “our generation constantly feels the need to discover new and exciting things”. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies {"adUnitPath":"71347885/_main_independent/in_arts-entertainment/in_music/image/gallery_mpu_sb","autoGallery":true,"disableAds":false,"gallery":[{"data":{"title":"rae","description":"tate mcrae and addison rae indycomp \nComposite By Abu ","caption":"The two Gen Z queens of nonchalant pop, Tate McRae and Addison Rae The two Gen Z queens of nonchalant pop, Tate McRae and Addison Rae to say her fans are less than thrilled is an understatement then posted a much-memed photo of a private jet with the caption “Get me to God's country.” This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from thus confirming his collab with McRae — and her fans wasted no time sharing their thoughts about the collaboration This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from Fans also flooded the comments of McRae's most recent Instagram post saying the collab “feels tone deaf” and asking her to cancel the duet “The collab w Morgan better be scrapped girl your fandom is leaving you,” wrote another “We love u but this is not acceptable,” protested someone else This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownTate McRae Is Getting Absolutely Ripped To Shreds For Her Upcoming Collab With Morgan Wallen And It's A Veryyyy Sticky SituationThere are just way too many layers here Most recently, you might remember that Morgan walked off the set of Saturday Night Live a couple weeks ago, which sparked controversy (and became the subject of many jokes) In 2021, Justin Bieber apologized publicly after posting Morgan's music on his Instagram Story saying he "[doesn't] support or tolerate any sort of racism or discrimination." In addition to Tate, Post Malone will also be featured on the album i knew in my soul not to jump on the tate mcrae bandwagon pic.twitter.com/XzdWvoYh5U tate mcrae collabing with morgan wallen...... i’m actually so disappointed in her rn pic.twitter.com/L8VotEQSfJ aaaaand no more streams for tate mcrae wtf. pic.twitter.com/bNFBPIYTqd Tate McRae… you can take the girl out of Alberta but you can’t take the Alberta out of the girl smfh! pic.twitter.com/WQQ4cpvqpV folk musician Jensen McRae rediscovered herself The Los Angeles-raised artist sauntered from the dreamy innocence of her 2022 debut into conflict with the ghosts of past breakups those that left McRae disoriented and lost but eventually led her to find acceptance which pulls from 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future reminds us that even in life’s most bewildering moments McRae’s voice and pen have also helped fans find their way out of the darkness she dedicated a short acoustic ballad to Los Angeles amid the Southern California wildfires some users praising the song’s emotional gravity In a time when McRae was greatly overwhelmed–the wildfires erupted when she was performing in Mexico–her music still makes a profound connection “It’s not what anyone expected to happen and I’ve been fortunate like me and my family–none of us were directly impacted Our homes are all fine,” McRae tells AFROPUNK “But everyone knows someone who’s lost something and it’s been strange trying to get back to normal so it’s weird to be away from here and have places be so untouched by what happened.” Being among Los Angelenos who’ve supported each other in rebuilding with I Don’t Know How being a snapshot of cumulative life changes Opener “The Rearranger” soars in like a rhapsodic backyard jam “I Can Change Him” meets McRae in a place of denial McRae’s freer side radiates on the uplifting and pop-oriented “Let Me Be Wrong,” and in the song’s second verse she delivers a resonant message: “Nothing really shakes me now.” I Don’t Know How finds McRae at a crossroads but while internalizing post-breakup grief–compounded by two relationships that ended back-to-back–she’s at her wisest it’s not isolated; it’s like I’m reflecting back on all of the events that led up to it,” she says “With these relationships happening in such quick succession I had to be processing them both kind of simultaneously Writing these songs was hugely helpful for that because it allowed me to figure out my thoughts and feelings about the breakups and maybe things that I hadn’t even realized while the relationships were happening.” regained enough solitude to realize what her unhealthy relationship patterns were “I really wanted to be consumed by the relationship and just put my whole self into it,” she admits “And that meant when the second relationship ended I was finally left alone with myself and I felt so much anxiety.” Amid taking a deep dive to sort out her feelings recording I Don’t Know How in the recording studio of her producer the musician brought her pain to page while surrounded by a lush environment “I felt like it was such a great way to make an album It was very much like a summer camp vibe of We have this limited window to get as much done as we can,” McRae recalls “I know how to like to take vacations from the fast-paced vibes but it still is impossible to fully separate from like other people and like the chaos of the city,” she continues “And so being in a place like Durham was so quiet Among the longest pieces to finish was “Massachusetts,” McRae’s viral track where she makes cheeky Batman references and ponders an influential love of yore who shared an early version of the song on TikTok in 2023 doesn’t rue her former partner but finds them inescapable through fond reflection https://www.tiktok.com/@jensenmcrae/video/7298111512248405291?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc “I wanted to make sure that if it ever came out in a full form it lived up to the excitement of the first part of the song but also because I was in real time trying to figure out what I meant and what I wanted to say,” she says “Because the song is about looking back on a breakup and feeling healed and feeling like the processing is finished The time that McRae spent in her last two relationships was transitory but the musician has a perennial lane in contemporary folk music looking to pioneers Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell as influences who attended USC’s Thornton School of Music now stands alongside fellow acts like Annahstasia and Infinity Song’s Momo Boyd as women who are expanding folk and alternative rock whenever I see other young Black women making the kind of music that I make and it’s really encouraging because I don’t think I ever realized how many of us there are,” McRae says “Some of them make music that sounds like my music It’s so cool to see that breadth of what’s out there And I think that there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of getting our flowers and getting recognized on a bigger level.” McRae’s in community with modern folk up-and-comers but she’s most encouraged by creatively moving forward I Don’t Know How centers McRae in the throes of heartbreak but it’s the album’s range from solemn (“Tuesday”) to invigorating (“Praying On Your Downfall”) that sees her as a genre-bending force “Something that I have always tried to do is give myself permission to try on different styles and work in different genres because you never know when you’re going to make something that sounds like you but still is surprising in some way,” McRae says “That was a big part of whenever I make pop-sounding songs there was a period of my life where I would have been like I need to give that to someone else.’ But I’m realizing now that everything I make really does still sound like me.” McRae gives an authentic representation of late twentysomething womanhood with a potency that somehow relates to all in transformative phases She’s genuine in sound and offers hope for listeners with personal push-pull struggles “I want people to be able to see a path through like the thickets of what’s coming for them in the later part of this very important decade,” McRae says “You’re inevitably going to go through a lot of things that you don’t think you can survive Try a different filter or a new search keyword Streaming and Download help Redeem code supported by 23 fans who also own “I Don't Know How But They Found Me!” supported by 22 fans who also own “I Don't Know How But They Found Me!” supported by 19 fans who also own “I Don't Know How But They Found Me!” Some of the best songwriting around Not JRN Heartfelt songwriting from this Sheffield artist with big emotions filling out the space between spare Old-fashioned fiddles harmonize with rippling synths on the Scottish singer-songwriter's latest collection of original folk songs A collection of twinkling bedroom folk-pop demos from Fahim Rahman that arcs from hushed intimacy to sweeping cinematic emotionality A lovely addition to the best project of 2023 but is overall just as strong as the work that made it on "the record" Outer Estate Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp Norma Tanega’s Unconventional Music Pushed the Boundaries of 1960s Folk Dreaming of You: Late Film Legend Karen Black’s Musical Time Capsule Anju Makes Intimate Folk-Pop for Herself and Her Communities Backxwash joins the show to discuss her recent release Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker went home to be with her Lord and Savior on Friday A Celebration of Barbara’s Life will be Monday at 3:00pm at Ott and Lee Funeral Home Brandon with visitation starting at 1:00pm Burial will follow in Brandon Memorial Gardens The daughter of the late Molly Burkett and Conrad McRae She is survived by her sons Richard McRae Hopper and wife Donna AL and David Carson Hopper and his wife Tammy of Brandon MS; Grandchildren Bailey Hopper Kirkland and her husband John MS; Great Grandchildren Abigail Betty Butts Lucas Michael Butts and Drew Miller Kirkland Memorials may be made to Brandon First Methodist Church Add to Calendar Complete the form below to RSVP for the Visitation for Barbara McRae Hopper Complete the form below to get directions for the Visitation for Barbara McRae Hopper Add to Calendar Complete the form below to RSVP for the Funeral Service for Barbara McRae Hopper Complete the form below to get directions for the Funeral Service for Barbara McRae Hopper Add to Calendar Complete the form below to RSVP for the Burial for Barbara McRae Hopper Complete the form below to get directions for the Burial for Barbara McRae Hopper Singer-songwriter Jensen McRae poses for a portrait on Thursday “I was parodying Phoebe Bridgers who was becoming world famous in that exact moment I was also writing about this topic that everyone was thinking about constantly because we were in lockdowns.” Bridgers reposted the video The title is a reference to “Back to The Future,” her favorite movie It’s a line of dialogue said by scientist Doc Brown just before he falls in a hail of bullets causing protagonist Marty McFly to flee back in time in Brown’s rigged DeLorean because this movie’s 40 years old — you find out (Doc) was wearing a bulletproof vest the whole time And that to me sort of is what my 20s have been like There are all these events that are happening that feel like they should take me out but I just keep standing up anyway,” McRae said “That’s kind of the narrative of the album.” Resilience has long been a motif in McRae’s songwriting deftly tackled sexual predators and racist microaggressions with poetic meditations on identity the ballad “My Ego Dies in the End,” she sings you’ve experienced enough by the age of 25 to have writing material for the rest of your life I don’t know if everyone agrees with that statement that have brought clarity to those experiences “Jensen flat out blew me away on every single level,” said Cook who met McRae for the first time when she arrived for the session it was just really easy to go where the songs needed to go.” While the internet’s interest in “Immune” two years prior was momentarily destabilizing (“There’s a meme of Patrick (from ‘SpongeBob’) coming home to his rock and there are all these eyes poking out and he goes ‘Who are you people?’ That was what I felt like,” McRae says) its embrace of “Massachusetts” was confusing for other reasons McRae was in the process of making this album and the snippet she shared felt separate from the narrative she was constructing Despite an onslaught of comments from listeners asking for the full song she considered leaving it unreleased or tabling it for much later was that “Massachusetts” — a song about the specific memories that don’t leave you when a relationship ends — would be the conclusion to the album’s story centering McRae’s vocals and acoustic guitar “Every rhythm just reinforces that,” he said is a lesson in getting out of the way of the song as much as you’re reinforcing it.” McRae hasn’t been able to diagnose exactly why fans online are drawn to certain songs like “Massachusetts” over others Cook says it’s the same amorphous quality that drives all good music: honesty “I think that the beauty of authenticity is it’s just so powerful that you don’t know why,” he said McRae has worked to keep her brushes with internet fame from swaying her creative process “Every decision I’m making about this is like ‘Do I want this?’ And ‘Is this going to be a good move for my career?’” she said But fans’ reactions have helped her recognize what makes her deeply personal songs relatable — especially as she considers the project with fresh ears and new perspective ahead of an upcoming tour “When you’re going through something difficult you know you’re not the first person to whom it’s happened “Revisiting it now — one or two or three years after having written the song — I have an appreciation for how of course people are going to have these songs resonate with them Because of course I’m not the only person who’s gone through these feelings.” adidas Sportswear begins its Lightblaze era dropping the first model from its new sneaker line the shoe is embedded in adidas Sportswear’s comfort-first DNA providing a versatile footwear offering for those who want to move through the world in comfort and style on their feet Fronted by singer Tate McRae – who recently joined the three-stripe brand – and Paris Saint-Germain forward Bradley Barcola the campaign showcases their signature aesthetics which redefine the boundaries between athletic performance and fashion-forward style Lightblaze taps into the trending comfort meets style design code Blending monochromatic color block detailing with lifestyle characteristics complemented by bold three-stripe branding on the outer foot the shoe is perfect for elevating a minimalist fit The upper features a mix of overlaying and underlaying materials – contrasting suede leather and mesh – for added texture to accompany the sharp design edges Bringing a running aesthetic to all of life’s in-between moments the new model is equipped with adidas’ leading performance technology boasting a full-length Lightstrike midsole – inspired by adidas’ record-breaking Adizero running family The resilient and responsive foam provides 360° lightweight cushioning for faster movement making the sneaker ideal for day-long wear Combined with a full-length rubber outsole the shoe delivers maximum grip and durability for moving through life – whatever path it takes Speaking about the new shoe and her second campaign for the adidas family Tate McRae says: “When pulling together my everyday look From tour rehearsals to meeting friends for dinner I need a shoe that can take me from day to night and promise me ultimate comfort which is why I am a huge fan of adidas Sportswear’s new Lightblaze model and perfect to mix and match with all my fits.”  Global Senior Vice President adidas Sportswear and Training says: “adidas Sportswear translates innovation from the field of play into modern lifestyle products and this is exactly how we approached the creation of Lightblaze We know our consumers have fast-paced lives and want lightweight comfort in their footwear so we brought technology from our record-breaking Adizero running shoes into the lifestyle world to provide responsive cushioning With fresh new colorways and updated silhouettes dropping in 2025 the Lightblaze family will transcend seasons to become the must-have sneaker for everyday movement The first Lightblaze model is available from in stores, on the adidas website and via the adidas app adidas Sportswear Introduces New Running-Inspired Footwear IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE GET IN TOUCH