The Meaning Behind Tate McRae's "Sassy" Pop Song "It's ok I'm ok"
The insanely catchy "It's ok I'm ok" chorus started off as a joke.
When Tate McRae released “It's ok I’m ok,” the Canadian singer, songwriter and dancer solidified herself as the pop girlie to watch.
McRae, who’s returning as Saturday Night Live’s Musical Guest for a second time on March 1, dropped her third studio album So Close to What in February 2025 — and it's full of bangers. Take “It’s ok I’m ok”: the album’s lead single debuted at No. 20 on Billboard’s Hot100 list when it was first released, and went on to top Billboard’s Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart.
Written by McRae, Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha, and ILYA, “It’s ok I’m ok” remains the ultimate bop. But what is the meaning behind the song's catchy lyrics? Read on to learn all about the track's meaning, how they came up with the hook, and more.
What are the lyrics to Tate McRae’s song “It’s ok I’m ok” about?
McRae’s song “It’s ok I’m ok” is an upbeat breakup anthem about happily moving on from an ex-boyfriend and telling his new girlfriend he’s all hers.
“This song is a byproduct of reflecting back on past relationships to now and how much I’ve grown and learned from them,” the pop star explained in September 2024 when the song was first released. “It’s a playful take on knowing your worth and the all too relatable feeling of never wanting someone back.”
That feeling is illustrated in the song’s chorus when McRae sings “It's ok, I'm ok, had him in the first place” and “You can have him anyway.”
The lyrics also warn the ex’s new girlfriend that she’s only seeing his good side, like he’s “good with his money” and he's “close to his mother.” As McRae sings in the pre-chorus: “And she be like, ‘He's so perfect’ / I be like, ‘Oh, what version?’ / ‘Ain't nobody got me this nervous’ / Oh, baby, I been there.”
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The “It’s ok I’m ok” chorus started off as a “joke”
The infectious hook to “It’s ok I’m ok” was inspired by something innocuous McRae said in the studio — and nothing to do with a breakup.
“I have this thing in [music writing] sessions where I just won’t eat unless I finish the song. It’s honestly just like if I’m in the studio I have to finish the song and then I’ll eat my meal, I can’t eat in the middle of writing," McRae told Capital Breakfast in September 2024. “So then ILYA and Savan would be like, ‘Hey do you want food?’ and then every day for like two weeks straight I'd say, ‘It's okay, I'm okay.’”
ILYA revealed in an October 2024 interview with Billboard that McRae is “so focused” in the studio and whenever she would respond to them with “It’s okay, I’m okay,” it’d always be in the same tone.
“The chorus started as a joke,” the Swedish songwriter and music producer said. “I was just like, ‘Wait, that’s actually kind of catchy.’ And now it’s a song. I like it because it came from her — that’s how she says it.”
The final version of “It’s ok I’m ok” took a roughly a year to write
McRae shared with Rolling Stone that while they had the chorus locked in, other lyrics were revised over the course of a year.
“We rewrote the entire song,” she said in September 2024. “A year later, I’m a different person in different relationships. [I’m] 21 now, I feel like I have different perspectives so the whole song shifted to me and I saw it in a brand new light I didn't before."
During an appearance on On Air With Ryan Seacrest, McRae said she didn’t initially relate to the song. “It wasn’t until like a year later when I felt like it related to me at that point in time. I was like, ‘Now I can finish this,’” she said. “Honestly, music comes around like that. Like beats or things you hear sonically don’t hit you at one point and then a year later it can be like ‘Oh wow, I’m obsessed with this now.’”
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Tate McRae says her “alter ego” is responsible for “It’s ok I’m ok”
McRae explained to Ryan Seacrest that she has an “alter ego” as a performer — who she's named "Tatiana" — and feels like that persona took over with “It’s ok I’m ok.”
“When I do actually listen to the song, it is a very sassy song. And honestly all of it was triggered by this alter ego I have on stage,” she said during an 2024 interview with On Air With Ryan Seacrest. “When I get on stage, I’m just like a completely different person than how I actually am in real life. A lot of this was written on the road, like on the tour bus. It’s funny, [it felt like] my alter ego was writing this a little bit more than Tate.”
As for if she was the new girlfriend listening to “It’s ok I’m ok”? “I’d be like, ‘Well, s--- that sucks,” she said with a laugh.
Tate McRae's "It's ok I'm ok" music video was inspired by former pop legends
If you got Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera vibes while watching the "It's ok I'm ok" music video, that was very much the plan. A So You Think You Can Dance finalist in 2016, McRae put her skills as a trained dancer on display in the song's visual, kicking it off with a steamy strut down the streets of New York City.
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McRae told Rolling Stone there are references to “so many pop videos” throughout the music video. “Like old Britney, old Christina. I feel like it’s very campy, I would say,” she said, before adding, “There are some scenes in there that are, I mean, pushing it for me, which is exciting. I think Sean [Bankhead] absolutely devoured the choreo, he’s a one of a kind choreographer.”
While McRae has certainly taken inspiration from pop divas before her, she told The Independent frequent comparisons to the “Princess of Pop” shock her. “I find that flattering and scary,” she said. “It’s such a crazy statement because no one can compare to Britney Spears. It’s like comparing someone to Michael Jackson! That’s the blueprint!”
