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Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Thunderous approval for pop star Tate McRae at Canada Life Centre
Even if you think you've never heard of Tate McRae, you've definitely heard Tate McRae. The 22-year-old Calgary-born pop star is having a supernova moment. Her 2023 single Greedy continues to have a chokehold on pop radio. She is one of the Top 50 most-listened-to artists in the world on Spotify. She has had 21 (!) songs chart on the Billboard Top 100. People might know her better — or at least first — as a dancer. McRae also has the distinction of being the first Canadian finalist on the American reality series So You Think You Can Dance. She started posting songs to YouTube in 2019 and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, McRae's out on her three-continent Miss Possessive Tour — in support of her third album, this year's So Close To What — which brought her to Canada Life Centre on Saturday night. Starting with plenty of pyro and smoke right out of the gate, McRae let the anticipation build before taking the stage in a teeny white outfit for a slinky, sexy performance of Miss Possessive, flanked by a crew of impressive dancers. For an arena pop show, the stage set up was surprisingly spartan: a large T-shaped catwalk with a circular B stage, backed by three giant screens that had a few video interstitials but mostly showed what was going on onstage (her videographers were absolutely excellent). This allowed McRae to be the focus — her face, her voice, her choreography. And her hairography, of course; McRae's honey-coloured mane is a main character, and she loves an expertly-timed hair flip. McRae draws a lot of comparisons to Britney Spears, perhaps because she's a pop star who can actually dance and perhaps because, like Spears, McRae's also big into the breathy baby voice, or so-called cursive singing — a term that describes a vocal style in which certain vowels are elongated while the consonants are clipped. (It gets its name because it sounds like cursive writing.) Both qualities were on full display on Saturday night, though her vocals had far more power behind them live than their recorded counterparts might suggest, especially on Siren Sounds, for which she commanded the stage. The show mostly felt like a relentlessly paced, 95-minute Y2K-era music video: a lot of crawling around the stage on all-fours, plenty of head snaps, a full-on stripper pole for the R&B-inflected Uh Oh. But she offered glimpses of her other sides as an artist, too, taking the mic on the B-stage in a black gown for performances of Greenlight and a soaring Nostalgia before sitting down at a keyboard for a little medley that threw back to her YouTube days. A note here on the crowd: I don't think even the Winnipeg Whiteout games got this loud. CHRIS PIZZELLO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Tate McRae's vocals had far more power behind them live than their recorded counterparts. CHRIS PIZZELLO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Tate McRae's vocals had far more power behind them live than their recorded counterparts. The energy ramped back up before the show ended with a bang: an explosive rendition of Just Keep Watching, followed by the definitely Britney-indebted Sports Car (which featured a waterfall of sparks) and, of course, Greedy. A lot of culture critics (especially Elder Millennial ones) have spent the past couple of years dedicating a lot of pixels and podcast air to parsing the 'why' of McRae's fame. For my part, I think it simply comes down to the idea that not everything is for everyone, and that's fine. She's part of a rich tradition of generic pop music that people like because they can dance and sing along to it. Don't overthink it. Swedish pop star Zara Larsson opened the show with a set stepped in clubby early-aughts dance pop — right down to a cover of Britney Spears' Gimme More that gives the original a run for its money. But as a vocalist, Larsson evokes Christina Aguilera more than Britney. She's got a big, acrobatic voice, which was given a workout on the 2015 banger Lush Life and this year's Midnight Sun, the title track from her forthcoming fifth studio album, due out in September. The latter is a sweet ode to Sweden's long summer days, but it's also yet more proof that the Swedes sure know how to write a pop song. Larsson closed with her titanic 2017 hit Symphony, which had big headliner energy. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ehlers bids emotional farewell
It would appear the breakup between the Winnipeg Jets and Nikolaj Ehlers was an amicable one. Emotional, too. 'Nik phoned me (Thursday), almost in tears,' coach Scott Arniel said on Friday. 'He just felt the biggest thing for him was he needed a change of scenery. It wasn't based on the city or the hockey team. He felt like he had been here a long time and this was his one chance to make a change.' KARL DEBLAKER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Nikolaj Ehlers provided plenty of thrills for Jets fans over the years. That change has come in the form of a six-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes which will pay Ehlers US $8.5 million per season. It marks the end of a relationship with the Jets that dates back to 2014 when he was selected in the first round, ninth-overall, by the organization. 'We talked before he made his final decision. It was an emotional conversation,' said general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who learned Wednesday evening they were out of the running to re-sign Ehlers. His final decision came a day later. 'He'll have to put it all in his own words, I certainly don't want to speak for him in any way, shape or form. I know on our side it was never about money or term or anything like that.' Ehlers hasn't spoken publicly yet but is is scheduled to hold a Zoom call with reporters on Saturday morning from his off-season home in Denmark. 'I thanked him for what he has done for this team,' Arniel said of how the conversation concluded. 'He was extremely, extremely appreciative of what went on here, how things were handled, things that happened. He loves the city and just decided to make a move — something he had the chance to do.' Now the focus turns to how the Jets might try to replace one of the most dynamic wingers in franchise history. 'It's a big hole for us,' said Arniel. 'But at the end of the day, that's his choice, he gets to this stage in his career, he felt that's what he wanted to do. But we had a great talk though, a great talk.' Cheveldayoff has made four NHL signings this week — veteran forwards Jonathan Toews, Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson and energy winger Cole Koepke. Winnipeg tried to take some bigger swings on players such as Brock Boeser (who ultimately stayed in Vancouver) and Andrew Mangiapane (who signed with Edmonton). 'Free agency is always an interesting time. It's very, very fluid. Sometimes you think something's there and it's not,' said Cheveldayoff. The Jets also lost forwards Mason Appleton (Detroit Red Wings) and Brandon Tanev (Utah Mammoth) in free agency. 'We've talked about free agency. Sometimes it's tough for us in this market,' said Arniel. 'Last year, we really looked at our depth and a lot of it was on our back-end. And that became important right out of training camp with our defence. This year it kind of flipped the other way, we went heavy with our forwards.' The Jets are hoping a player such as Nyquist can get back to the form he had two years ago with the Nashville Predators when he had a career-high 75 points. He fell to just 28 last season as his role was reduced thanks to several off-season additions in Music City. 'There's an opportunity here for him to have a bigger role more akin to what he had two years ago. And we'll see where that goes,' said Cheveldayoff. 'I think it just adds to the competition which strengthens an organization. Certainly we're going to need all hands on deck as an organization here to continue to push forward and make that next step.' Toews is an obvious wild card as he returns to the NHL following a two-year absence, while Pearson and Koepke are likely bottom-six additions. It was suggested to Cheveldayoff the Jets might be a lot slower as a group given what they've lost and added this week. 'Hopefully a guy like Brad Lambert can give us that opportunity to use his team speed,' Cheveldayoff said of the speedy prospect who has spent the majority of the past two years with the Manitoba Moose. 'For us, skating is obviously, it's paramount, but it's also playing fast. I think that's what a coach tries to do within their systems. It's not necessarily about individual speed of a player, it's how the player plays that a team plays fast.' Cheveldayoff has also signed a number of proven players at the American Hockey League level to two-way deals — defenceman Kale Clague and forwards Phil di Giuseppe, Samuel Fagemo and Walker Duehr — with the hopes of providing a better environment for first-year pros such as Brayden Yager, Colby Barlow and Jacob Julien on the farm. 'We didn't like how things unfolded with the Moose last year,' he said. 'We made a conscious effort to make sure we have a good sense of depth there. They are important prospects for us. These first-year guys, it's a tough step, so they certainly need to have good people around them. It just adds to the competition in the organization.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The Jets still have about US$19 million in cap space left, although a good chunk of that will be allocated for restricted free agents Dylan Samberg, Gabe Vilardi and Morgan Barron who all need new deals this summer. Negotiations on that front are ongoing. Cheveldayoff said they also have the flexibility to add — whether that's prior to the start of the 2025-26 season in October or leading up to the trade deadline next winter. 'It is important to be ready to pivot for anything,' he said. X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg Mike McIntyreReporter Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike. Every piece of reporting Mike produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
