So Close To What (SCTW) is the third studio album by Tate Mcrae. Released on Feb. 21, 2025, SCTW set records on Apple Music and other platforms within the first week of its release. It gained over 31 million streams on Spotify alone within just 24 hours. Entering a new stage of her life with turning 21 and getting into new relationships, Mcrae explores new themes through the 21 tracks. Similar but also different to her previous album,Think Later, Mcrae talks about the struggles she has in relationships but with this new album, she also adds the theme of being in love with songs such as I Know Love. Every song in this album has a special meaning and hidden clues tying it together to create the perfect album.

1. My favorite song on the album is Means I Care. Means I Care is about how Mcrae struggles to show how she feels about someone and instead of wanting to form a deeper connection, she tries to cut them off instead. This sentiment is represented in lyrics such as “If overnight I up and end it, run away without a mention, go ghost, I like you the most” which shows that she ends up leaving the person she feels most attached to. While this song was initially much lower on my list when the album was first released, after multiple listens, this song really encapsulates the feeling of the album. It represents her being in love with someone but still struggling to keep a connection with them which is a recurring theme in her songs like in Greenlight.
2. Next on the list is Nostalgia. One of her most underrated songs on the album, this song brings out Mcrae’s vulnerabilities as well as mentions of her family which is a rare occurrence in her music. Upon first listen to this album, this song quickly rose to the top of my favorites list because it brought back the feeling of her last album, Think Later, which was the album that first introduced me to her music. Additionally, the lyrics to this song feel relatable to teens like much of her other music. The lyrics “And I, I manifested you would leave, So the day you did, I had you beat” talk about how she was always afraid of losing this person and then leaving made all her fears real. At a young age, many people can connect to this line as they’re afraid of losing friendships or relationships.
3. Third on the list is Siren Sounds. This song was first introduced to me through TikTok where fans had released snippets of this unreleased song. At the request of many of her fans, Mcrae released this song in her SCTW bonus album three days after the release of the first version of her album. While initially I wasn’t a big fan of this song due to how much it was overplayed on TikTok, after looking at the lyrics and really understanding what the song meant, it slowly became one of my favorites. The imagery she uses in this song ties with her vision of an unstable relationship and using the analogy of the burning house with a bad relationship depicts her vision perfectly. The bridge “We’d keep living in a burning house, Might be crazy to stick this out, But we can’t see all the flames around” shows how they can’t see how toxic and bad this relationship is for both of them and so they continue to stay in it. The bridge of this song is one of my favorites to sing along with, because of the level of emotion she sings with and the background music. 
4. Like I Do is next on the list. This song is a little different from the others as she isn’t really talking about a love relationship, but rather someone who’s trying to be her but doesn’t understand who she is as a person at all. During my first couple of listens to this song, I didn’t like it too much because I wasn’t able to understand the lyrics or what she was saying. However, after reading what the song was about, I really started to appreciate the theme of it because of how relatable it was. Many people at least at some point in their life feel like they know someone who doesn’t understand them as a person and isn’t always looking out for their best interests. This song encapsulates that feeling so well with the repetitive lyrics of the chorus “You don’t wanna know me, you just wanna do what I do.”
5.  Last but not least is Bloodonmyhands ft. Flo Mili. This song started as one of my top three songs from the album but dropped as I overheard it on social media and just played it too many times. However, the beat of this song is a huge change from her last album which makes it more interesting and allows a larger number of people to enjoy Mcrae’s music as the beat of this song is very different from her previous, more mellow songs. The addition of Flo Mili to this song adds a new kind of tone where it sounds like she’s taking charge of the relationship instead of just dealing with whatever is happening. The contrast of Mili’s lyrics with Mcrae’s creates a piece of music unlike her usual. Lyrics from Mili such as “I’m pretty and worth it, My feelings ain’t hurtin’, Won’t stay if it ain’t workin’” contrast with lyrics from Mcrae such as “I was so prepared to let you cross all my lines.” Finally, along with the beat and lyrics, the dance that Mcrae adds to this song when on stage makes it even more memorable and fun to watch when performed.