POP star Tate McRae was catapulted into the spotlight last year with her break out hit You Broke Me First racking up a billion streams.
But it hasn't been easy finding fame in the middle of a pandemic, and rather than basking in the screams of adoring fans, Tate has spent most of it alone.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun ahead of the release of Working, her new single with Khalid, the 17-year-old said: "It’s interesting because it’s not as glamorous as people think. I spend a lot of time alone working by myself. The exciting part is when you get to meet other artists and when you get to literally live in the music industry.
"That’s all I’ve wanted. I used to go to school and no one knew what I was doing ever. They wouldn’t even ask questions about me going to LA because they just didn’t wanna know.
"There’s that interesting, weird phase where I was still in high school and developing this hit song, and this weird balance of people not knowing what to say or how to act around me, which is very weird, but it’s getting better now."
Tate first garnered attention as a 13-year-old YouTuber when her self-penned track One Day went viral.
But it was three years later that she eventually conquered the charts with You Broke Me First reaching number one in America and the top three in the UK.
She said: "The interesting thing was the song blew up in the middle of a pandemic so while I was like charting for the first time and going on Billboard and award shows, I was literally doing it from my house, so the whole experience of having a hit song and living out that hit song and experience people react to it I didn’t get.
"I just got the text messages hitting me up with stats everyday that is the max of what I got to experience."
Live gigs might have been put on hold for the past year but Tate has still managed to play a part in major global ceremonies such as the MTV EMA & VMA's, the Juno's and on US night time shows The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live!
She has also collaborated with Australian pop star Troye Sivan on the track You.
But neither that track or her summer release with Khalid were recorded together in person.
"At this point I have not done a collab in person yet," said Tate. "I’ve done so many collabs on Zoom at this point I don’t know what it’s like to do a real collab."
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However, two weeks ago she finally met up with Khalid when they recorded the video for the track, and the in-demand artist did not disappoint superfan Tate.
Having previously called him her dream collaboration, Tate said: "We hit it off really well. Khalid is like a big teddy bear, he’s sweet.'
"I love this song. It’s a summer bop. I think it’s amazing what he’s done. "
Working is available to stream on Spotify now
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