Scroll through TikTok for long enough, and the same audio will eventually surface: Tate McRae singing about making a lot of money and being her own housewife. For many, those few seconds, repeated across video after video, was their first exposure to “Housewife.” Released on October 15, the single soon moved past social media feeds, hitting around 45.88 million streams and opening at No.1 on Billboard’s Global 200 chart.
“Housewife” is the first release of a new music era for McRae, one built around feminine independence, wealth, and power. Chloe Ru ’27 who has followed McRae’s music for years, was one of the many students who heard the clip over social media before seeking out the full song.
“I saw it on TikTok, honestly, but because it was trending on TikTok, I was like, ‘oh, it’s not bad.’ And also, I know Tate, I know her song, so I was like, ‘I’ll listen to it.’ So I listened to the whole thing, and it was pretty good. I actually think it’s one of her better songs, ” said Ru.
Kareena Kapoor ’29 echoed Ru’s views, pointing towards the meaning behind the lyrics as what set it apart from the rest of McRae’s catalogue.
“I liked the chorus. I think it’s a really good and catchy song, and it’s one of Tate McRae’s best ones… I like that it’s about being your own housewife, and you work for yourself. I feel like a lot of girls can relate to wanting that in their own life… It’s got a little bit more of a deeper meaning than what you would normally have in her music. At least for me, I understood the lyrics a little more, and I thought more about it,” said Kapoor.
For many, this song is a nod to female empowerment and financial independence. Nisreen Dohadwala ’27 gave her interpretation of the feminist message in “Housewife.”
“It’s similar to very feminist, independent women’s songs right now, but I think it’s different. It’s more direct. She’s very much obvious about what she’s saying. I think a lot of songs obscure what they’re trying to say because that makes it easier to have a broader audience and more listeners, but she’s very clear about what she means here, and she doesn’t care if that means that men don’t listen to her music,” said Dohadwala.
Some also suspect a deeper motive behind the creation of this song. Betsy Hoffsman ’30 explained her thoughts on the why behind “Housewife.”
“A reason that I think it’s really good that Tate McRae made this song is because it’s a clap back to a lot of the people who were criticizing her for hanging out with Jack Hughes, who had laughed at a misogynistic joke, and then were calling Tate McRae an anti-feminist and stuff like that. This song is kind of a clapback to those people and saying, ‘Yeah, I am a feminist.’ I honestly really appreciated that because I too kind of felt a little betrayed by her hanging out with someone like that,” said Hoffsman.
Like any song, “Housewife” appeals differently to different people. Arielle Lee ’30 noted how she disagrees with the song’s ideology around empowering women.
“The other verses are pretty good, just not in a way that’s the ideal version of what I personally think female empowerment should be like. You can make females seem more powerful without undermining males,” said Lee.
Beyond the lyrics, students also had reservations on the music itself. Dohadwala explained how she would have liked to see certain musical aspects of the song improve.
“The biggest thing I disliked was the fact that I feel like the beginning, especially, was very much like her other songs. I feel like she reuses a lot of rhythms from her other songs. Making it sound like it has more electric guitar would actually make it sound so much stronger. I feel like right now, it just sounds like a lot of her other music, and adding an electric guitar, maybe a solo, or just adding it throughout the song, would give it a much stronger feeling,” said Dohadwala.
Ultimately, “Housewife” stands for its message. Hoffsman emphasized the importance of listening with intent to understand.
“People should be talking about it a lot more, I feel. As I said earlier, people are just using the song to be posted on TikToks and not to actually talk about the meaning of the song, which I honestly think is really important, especially financial independence. I feel like there’s this huge trend going on right now of being a trad wife, and working at home, while the man ‘does all the work.’ I think that we need to talk less about, ‘Oh my god, the chorus is so good,’ and more about ‘Wow, the message of the song is really impactful,’” said Hoffsman.
