Tate McRae is one of the biggest pop stars of the modern era of music, with her new “Housewife” single debuting on the Global Spotify Charts when it dropped on Oct. 15. Its title immediately makes our minds jump to staying at home or without a job, but McRae’s hit is about anything but that.
A housewife is generally understood as a stay-at-home companion to a working husband, an archetype the singer establishes herself as being vehemently against. McRae is witty with her use of double meaning to portray herself as a woman who works solely for herself, not for a man — she claims the resolve of her wit herself in one of her songs. She assures her listeners, she is definitely no stranger to hard work as a self-made multi-hyphenate.
McRae starts off casually dispelling any assumptions that her ideal future is one centralized around her fame. “Think my paradise is tabloids and flashing lights,” she sings in her opening verse. “Truth is, it’s more like loads of cash / And a nice guy and a life lived right (I know that).”
While her fame will certainly help her reach her desired outcome, it is a means to an end. Her main desire remains with the financial wealth that working hard has granted her. Additionally, the need for a “nice guy” that she mentions isn’t a traditionally amicable lover; rather, he is a casual fling whose relationship with McRae once again keeps her in control. She means to sing of using men as a means of pleasure for herself, more like eye candy than a genuine lover. She wants to pursue a life “lived right” by herself, putting her needs before the spotlight. This respectable take is an appropriate introduction to the rest of the song, where McRae reiterates her self-efficiency with much more brute force than her opening verse.
The pre-chorus subtext introduces the themes of domination and self sufficiency in a brutal industry, where McRae sings, “This industry will try to kill you, kill you / But not before they try to bill you, bill you / They try to take away your wild and free / And when they do, wanna run away with me?”
McRae portrays herself as a sort of savant in the music industry — which she has the right to claim, as she was 13 when she first entered the industry — using her experience to flaunt her new way of living. She warns people considering a musical career, as she’s felt their financial exploitation full force. Now, with more control over her career, she knows not to sacrifice herself to appease the jaws of the industry.
Her chorus further amplifies how this control over her career expands over all aspects of her life.
“I just wanna make a lot of money, be my own housewife / You, you, you, y-you could be the one I’m calling honey / Be my sex on the side,” starts the chorus of “Housewife.”
McRae repeats this several times throughout the song, emphasizing how she is her own housewife — she serves no one but herself. She works for her own happiness, while men and sex are a side hustle for her and a means of pleasure rather than the focal point of success in her life.
This sensual wit is very becoming of McRae’s style and fits into her self-assured persona, whom she calls “Tatiana,” describing this character as her promiscuous, confident alter ego that helps her get through performances. Tatiana makes her debut in McRae’s new single in the chorus — where she sings of sex as it is to her, a simple pleasure that puts her in a power imbalance with the men she engages in casual sex with.
Her final monologue is given in the bridge, which feels deeply interpersonal as McRae completely changes her tone of voice to deliver it, coming out deeper and mellow in composure.
“Go into my garden, pick the money off the tree / I don’t pay for nothing, baby, people pay me,” McRae sings. “And you right beside me’s just the icing on the dream / I don’t need you, I want you, and that’s my favorite thing.”
She has made her final claim on her autonomy, and empowers herself by decreeing that others only serve her, in the same way that she keeps around the people she explicitly chooses. The analogy of the money off the tree is classic, but complements the rest of the song well, alluding to McRae’s flex of her wealth and success in her own career.
The beat behind the entire song is catchy, and it keeps an up-tempo as McRae sings and frequently adlibs over it. It doesn’t leave any space for boredom and remains steady enough to where McRae’s message isn’t lost. Is the beat extremely original? No, but it makes up for it with a couple good drops, a percussion pattern to bump your head to and a complementary rhythm to an already empowering song. Its use of synthesizers sounds very familiar to some of McRae’s other songs, and makes it a bit reminiscent of most radio pop songs nowadays, but again, isn’t bad for what it is.
As a single, “Housewife,” isn’t emotionally hard-wired or full of figurative language, but it serves its purpose as an empowering song of taking control and getting yourself to where you want to be. It’s McRae’s love letter to herself and to the spoiled life she’s chosen to earn through working for herself. She is not a housewife to any man. The beat is catchy, and the upbeat tone of the song makes it easy to listen to on repeat. It’s a good song to listen to if you’re a woman who feels the same, or even just someone who loves the feeling of being high on their own success.
Audrey Phoukong is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at aphoukon@uci.edu.
Edited by Jocelyn Cosgrove and Zara Baker.
