Tate McRae Goes ‘Tit For Tat’ with The Kid LAROI

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Breakups can be messy — but when both people are songwriters, things can get even messier. Tate McRae just released her new song “TIT FOR TAT,” and fans are convinced it’s a clapback aimed at The Kid LAROI and his recent tracks “HOT GIRL PROBLEMS” and “A COLD PLAY.”

While fans believed the pair began dating in January 2024, McRae and LAROI officially announced they were dating in April 2024. The two were together for almost a year when McRae’s third album, So Close to What, was released on Feb. 21.

“I Know Love,” which features LAROI, is a beautiful love song in the album about how neither of them planned on getting into a serious relationship, but how they fell in love along the way.

While McRae was on her Miss Possessive World Tour for her album So Close to What, rumors were circulating that the couple had split up.

On July 25, LAROI released his song “HOT GIRL PROBLEMS” with the opening lyrics “She on yachts all summer / Boyfriend just a com up / ‘Til she get another.” This song was released after McRae posted herself for her birthday on a yacht without LAROI.

More lyrics in the song that possibly reference McRae are, “She makes sure you see her / London to Ibiza,” since their breakup took place during the European leg of McRae’s tour.

On the same day as the release of “HOT GIRL PROBLEMS,” some people took to X to share their negative thoughts on McRae, but one person accused LAROI and his team of paying for these slanderous tweets.

In response, LAROI shared a screenshot of a message he sent to his team, asking them to investigate whether the comments were coming from within and to put a stop to it. He wrote, “Tate and I are on good terms, and this just looks messy / whack.”

Although LAROI claimed he and McRae were on good terms, just two months later — on Sept. 5 — he dropped “A COLD PLAY,” which is another track that fans believe is about McRae. Whereas “HOT GIRL PROBLEMS” seemed more like a diss where LAROI was upset over the breakup, “A COLD PLAY” takes a slower, more melancholic tone.

The song is about LAROI missing someone even after they hurt him and wishing things had ended better, but that he shouldn’t have expected anything different coming from them. The most notable lyric in the song is the repeated phrase, “But it’s my fault for thinking I could fix you.”

McRae had stayed relatively quiet throughout their breakup, the new songs by LAROI, and the slander before she dropped “TIT FOR TAT.”

“TIT FOR TAT” was released on Sept. 26, where she announced its release on her story, stating that she wrote the song while in Nashville, Tennessee, and that she is “finding inspiration everywhere” she goes. Her concert in Nashville was on Sept. 11, which was only a week after LAROI dropped his song “A COLD PLAY.”

If there was any question before of whether or not LAROI’s songs were about McRae, then there isn’t anymore. “TIT FOR TAT” is a direct response to LAROI’s song “A COLD PLAY” with lyrics like, “Let’s go song for song, let’s go back-to-back / Fix your f*cking self, kiss my ass for that.”

Additionally, McRae’s song “TIT FOR TAT” is in all caps, which she has never done before, but is a staple for LAROI’s song titles. This clearly hints that the song is in reference to LAROI. McRae also replaced “I Know Love” with “TIT FOR TAT” in her concert set list.

Original photo by Victoria Suarez

While it’s fun to sit back and listen to these songs and analyze the meaning behind the lyrics, it’s important to remember that McRae and LAROI are music artists. They can turn one emotion, one moment, one thing, and expand on it to create an emotional and catchy song.

Ultimately, we don’t know what happened in their relationship and shouldn’t make personal judgments about them. At the end of the day, they’re two people who fell out of love. Heartbreaks are messy, but they become messier when you have millions of people watching and commenting.