A pop star wearing multiple sports jerseys: what’s abnormal about that? At first glance, it’s nothing special. Yet considering Canadian singer Tate McRae’s past involvement with the NHL, her support of the Flames—or lack thereof, was an immediate shock to her followers.
The singer has 40.4 million followers on Spotify, 7.5 million on TikTok and has the title of “youngest musician to be on Forbes top 30 under 30” in 2021. Tate received her personalised Flames jersey in December 2023, and served as team captain at the NHL All-Star game in February 2024, while repping the Flames.
There is no doubt that the 21-year-old has influence, which spreads beyond music to hockey, dance, pop culture, and social media. So here’s the breakdown of why fans (who go by “Tater Tots”) are invested and confused by her recent post.
On Sept. 9th, 2024, McRae posted a TikTok video promoting her unreleased song “It’s ok I’m ok.” The TikTok video is currently sitting at 8.3 million views. She was wearing a New Jersey Devils jersey while lip-syncing to the iconic lyrics, “She be like, ‘he’s so perfect’ / I be like, ‘Oh what version?’” Amidst excitement for her new song, the comments section was not about to let the Devils jersey pass by without notice. A top comment on the video said “NEW JERSEY DEVILS JERSEY OMG” got over 8,000 likes on TikTok. On Sept. 12, 2024, the already TikTok-viral song was fully released. The chorus was so catchy I already it stuck in my head before the song was fully released.
Media speculations point toward the lyrics being a statement of “good riddance” to her ex-boyfriend (and hockey player) Cole Sillinger, of the Columbus Blue Jackets. While there is no direct tie as of yet between the song and the jersey, the theme of hockey could have been a clue as to what the song was going to be about. Alternatively, her ex-boyfriend before Sillinger was Jony Hader, who, fitting with the hockey theme, also played hockey in a junior league. Perhaps it was a “double goodbye” to her hockey boy era.
It’s unclear if the beloved singer was previously a Devil’s fan, however since her presence in the media, her favourite NHL team has only been the Flames. Her being a Flames fan came as no surprise as McRae was born and raised most of her life in Calgary.
This past February, McRae served as a celebrity captain in the Canadian annual All-Star Game alongside 3 other Canadian stars: Michael Bublé, Justin Bieber, and Will Arnett. She also performed live at the half-time break but didn’t forget to represent her favourite team with a Flames cap and red scarf on the Colorado Avalanche’s Instagram post.
In December 2023, McRae was seen in the Flames’ audience with her family and friends. Not only was she cheering the team on, but she even posed with her own personalised “McRae” Flames jersey. McRae can be seen wearing it on a post by the Flames on X.
Considering the pop star’s consistent support of her hometown hockey team, it is unlikely this was just a coincidence, and fans don’t seem to think so either. According to Google Trends “Tate McRae favourite hockey team” was searched at least 100 times on September 9th, a sharp contrast from zero searches in the previous days.
The photo above shows Canadian searches.
The photo above shows American searches.
While musical celebrities are not sports influencers, their audiences do tend to follow by example, and thanks to social media, now more than ever. Most recently, pop artist Taylor Swift and American football player Travis Kelce’s relationship has inspired Swift’s fans to take an interest in football. The National Football League’s viewership went up 53 percent because of teenage girls alone since Swift’s appearances and support of football.
While Tate McRae’s impact on hockey may be less than Taylor Swift’s on football, McRae still holds a great deal of influence among her fans, especially her Canadian ones. The two singers have the same Gen Z audience and even share many of the same fans, who are influenced by the person behind the music, not just the music itself.
Although McRae’s favourite hockey team is a hot topic up for debate at the moment, one thing that’s clear is her current boyfriend—The Kid LAROI, is also a hockey fan. So there’s a high chance that this love of hockey isn’t going anywhere anytime soon for this pop star. What do you think?