Tate McRae is one of pop music’s brightest rising stars, but she’s making sure to pay her respects to the genre’s greats on her way to the top.
In a Monday TikTok video, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter covered a snippet of Adele‘s “Someone Like You,” which ruled at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks back in 2011. For her take on the ballad, McRae opted for soft, breathy vocals rather than trying to emulate the “Easy On Me” singer’s famous belting, and inverted parts of the melody while singing over slowed-down piano.
“Don’t forget me, I beg/ I remember you said/ Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead,” crooned the Calgary, Alberta, native.
“Forgot how good this song is,” she wrote in text over the self-filmed video, adding in her caption: “queen adele.”
The “You Broke Me First” musician dropped her sophomore album Think Later in December, debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The 14-track LP features the singles “Exes” and “Run For the Hills,” as well as “Greedy,” which reached a new peak of No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-January.
McRae is fresh off performing at the 2024 Brit Awards, where she was nominated for best international song (“Greedy”), as was her pal Olivia Rodrigo. The prize ended up going to Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” which scooped record of the year at the Grammys earlier this year.
Watch McRae sing “Someone Like You” by Adele below.