<\/p>\n
\n\tThe social media pop fan ecosystem is fragile. Its participants are easily excitable and just as effortlessly aggrieved, their collective nervous system tied somewhat intrinsically to social media notifications. On Tuesday, Pop Crave posted<\/a>: \u201cFans speculate Tate McRae<\/a> is featured on Morgan Wallen<\/a>\u2019s new album after she posted a Tennessee jersey with his initials.\u201d With it appeared a split photo of the pop and country singers alongside the orange jersey in question, marked with McRae\u2019s signature T8 abbreviation and a much smaller \u201cMW\u201d on the collar printed in white.<\/p>\n \n\tIt wasn\u2019t a speculation at all. Wallen\u2019s official fan account had confirmed the collaboration in an Instagram broadcast channel, which allows for direct communication with fans. That the admins of Pop Crave, Pop Base, and the rest of the pop stan accounts to whom this information is at all relevant weren\u2019t privy to this before it hit their timelines speaks to the overlap deficit between Wallen and McRae\u2019s audiences. When Wallen revealed the track list for his album I\u2019m the Problem <\/a>on Wednesday, the fans who were still hoping it was just a rumor faced reality. There was McRae\u2019s name listed beside \u201cWhat I Want.\u201d Now, they\u2019re asking the same question: For what?<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis sucks so bad lmao tate literally is one of my favorite people on the planet im just so shocked and disappointed ab this,\u201d one fan posted<\/a>. Another responded to the Pop Crave announcement with a video of Wallen using a racial slur in 2021. \u201cIn case you all forgot why we don\u2019t like Morgan Wallen,\u201d they captioned<\/a>. Wallen addressed the racist incident<\/a> months later as his music was pulled from radio and digital playlisting, which did little to impact his direct sales and streaming numbers. It might have even helped<\/a>. \u201cI was around some of my friends, and we just\u2026 we say dumb stuff together,\u201d he said at the time by way of explanation. \u201cIn our minds, it\u2019s playful. I don\u2019t know, that sounds ignorant, but that\u2019s really where it came from.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tThe country musician has mostly kept that particular controversy in the rearview by racking up plenty of others. His latest followed his appearance on Saturday Night Live, when he abruptly exited the stage during closing credits and soon after posted a photo of a plane with the caption: \u201cGet me to God\u2019s country.\u201d It was more confusing than controversial<\/a>. It still stuck in the news cycle for a few days too long. Regretfully, McRae might lead to it coming back. \u201cI literally just said I liked her and now she wanna go to God\u2019s country\u2026,\u201d one fan wrote<\/a> on X. Another added<\/a>: \u201cTate mcrae when we said we wanted more collabs we meant with Olivia Rodrigo & that finished Tyla scrap, NOT m*rgan w*llen.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tRepresentatives for McRae did not respond to Rolling Stone\u2018s request for comment.<\/p>\n \n\tSome of McRae\u2019s fans are in damage control mode. One of her biggest update accounts, @t8mcraetours, which boasts over 26,000 followers, reposted the singer\u2019s Instagram Story post teasing \u201cWhat I Want\u201d without comment. The admin followed it with a dejected reaction gif, but otherwise didn\u2019t mention Wallen by name at all. Instead, it shared two posts about McRae having collaborations with Rodrigo and Tyla \u201ccoming out soon,\u201d despite not having any confirmation on either. Some other fans are pushing back against the backlash by deflecting it elsewhere. \u201cI am very disappointed that Tate is collabing with that man,\u201d one wrote<\/a>. \u201cBut I will NOT forget Post Malone<\/a> did too yet all I see is praise for him. I\u2019m so sick of the double standards.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a fair point \u2014 Malone collaborated with Wallen on the hit single \u201cI Had Some Help,\u201d released a little over a month after he appeared alongside Beyonc\u00e9 on the Cowboy Carter deep cut \u201cLevii\u2019s Jeans.\u201d But it\u2019s not really a double standard at all. On Monday, Noah Kahan<\/a> fans experienced similarly dejecting news when an ASCAP registration posted by a country outlet (and begrudgingly aggregated by Kahan\u2019s biggest update accounts) circulated listing Kahan as a co-writer on a Wallen song titled \u201cYour Turn.\u201d <\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\t\u201cI was already disappointed in Posty for collabing with him, I\u2019d hate for Noah to as well,\u201d one Kahan fan shared<\/a>. Another account, Noah Kahan Archives, said: \u201cYou know what I\u2019m actually pissed off.\u201d However, by the time the official I\u2019m the Problem track list was revealed later in the week, Kahan was no longer credited on the record. Instead, the fourth songwriter on the track was listed as \u201cUnknown Writer.\u201d The song itself doesn\u2019t appear on the album, either. Representatives for Kahan did not respond to Rolling Stone\u2018s request for comment on whether the musician was ever involved in the record. His fans are just happy his name is no longer near Wallen\u2019s.<\/p>\n \n\tMalone and Wallen announced another collaboration this week, the album cut \u201cI Ain\u2019t Comin\u2019 Back.\u201d He joins Eric Church, Ernest, and Hardy as the other featured collaborators on the album besides McRae. That the pop musician, who released her third studio album So Close to What in February, has received more backlash than these men is more indicative of a distinct difference in the expectations of their audiences than a gendered double standard.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Carrie Underwood accepted an invitation to perform at Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration, her own fanbase grappled with her alignment <\/a>with an administration targeting the rights of the groups that comprise most of her audience. But with Wallen, his actions are filtered through an entirely different lens. \u201cIt\u2019s been so obvious that people leaned into this guy,\u201d a Nashville artist manager told Rolling Stone<\/a> about Wallen in 2022. \u201cIt made him a martyr oddly, to people that hold what I would say are prejudices, and to other people who so firmly believe in being able to say whatever they want. It\u2019s disappointing. I feel like there could have been a situation in which people welcomed him back, but I don\u2019t feel he did the work.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe white equivalent of the R&B girls collabing with Chris Brown,\u201d one viral post about the McRae and Wallen collab read. \u201dWhen the Chris Brown brand gets dragged, the fans think they\u2019re being dragged,\u201d journalist Ernest Owens told Rolling Stone<\/a> in 2023. \u201cThey\u2019re not defending Chris Brown just because of his music and him. They can\u2019t separate themselves from the brand.\u201d It\u2019s the application to most fandoms\u2019 run-ins with controversy.<\/p>\n\n
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