Tate McRae returns today with “chaotic,” a new single that’s expected to appear on her upcoming debut studio album. McCrae has been teasing “chaotic” as far back as February, when she first shared a clip of herself singing the song on her TikTok. “Chaotic” follows “feel like shit” and “she’s all i wanna be,” but it’s unclear whether those singles will also appear on the LP.
McRae wrote “chaotic” with Victoria Zaro and producer Greg Kurstin. She revealed on TikTok that the track was “literally such a hard song write” and that it’s probably the “saddest song on the album.” Lyrically, the song finds McRae dealing with the growing pains of change.
On the first verse, McRae’s worried the change won’t actually benefit her in the long run.
I have this paralyzing fear that I’ll maybe go nowhere
She also doesn’t feel like she has anyone looking out for her.
And I can’t stand my friends right now, we got nothing in common
But being lonely’s worse than just having friends that don’t care
She stands corrected on the pre-chorus, though. There’s at least one person who notices she’s going through something.
You said it looks like I’ve been going through hell
How did you know? How could you tell?
She’s able to vent her frustrations to that person on the chorus.
I’m trying my best here to be brutally honest
Nobody said changing would be this exhausting
On the second verse, we get a better sense of the type of change that McRae is experiencing. She just went through a break-up, and she’s having a hard time moving on.
Don’t wanna say it but I really think that I miss him
It might seem stupid but I still look through all of our texts
On the bridge, McRae is stuck in the past. She tries to trick herself into moving forward, but the feelings are too strong to ignore.
Fooling myself thinking that I’ll never love again
Goddamn I felt it, I really felt it
In the song’s lyric video, McRae wakes up from an in-flight nap and finds the plane’s wings are on fire. No one else on board seems to notice. McRae says the video is a re-enactment of her recurring nightmare.
You can read all the lyrics to “chaotic” on Genius now.
