"R U OK" (often stylised in lowercase) is a song by Canadian singer Tate McRae. It was released on December 13, 2020, through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

as the second single from McRae's second extended play, ''

Too Young to Be Sad ''Too Young to Be Sad'' is the second extended play by Canadian singer Tate McRae. It was released on March 26, 2021 by RCA Records. The EP was preceded by four singles, with the fifth single released alongside the EP and received positive reviews ...

''. The song was written by McRae, Bryan Fryzel and Lowell.

Background

Tate McRae uploaded a snippet of the song on

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a few days prior to its release, describing it as a sequel to her breakthrough 2020 single "

You Broke Me First "You Broke Me First" (often stylized in all lowercase) is a song by Canadian singer Tate McRae. It was released on April 17, 2020, through RCA Records as the lead single from her second extended play, ''Too Young to Be Sad'' (2021). The song gai ...

". In the press release for the song she remarked, "‘r u ok' is a song that I never thought I’d write. It has a very sassy and feisty tone, which made it a challenge to dive into that perspective – as I think I’m quite the opposite. I love that in this song there is a lot of emotional meaning behind the lyrics, with very trappy, bright and contrasting production at the same time." McRae explained that she wrote the song with Lowell "on Zoom with owell'sukulele, just chilling on erbed" at home. She also compared the song to her track "

," describing "R U OK" as "the continued story of it, going into depth about the relationship from a person who's completely moved on."

Critical reception

The song topped '' Billboard's'' list of "10 cool new pop songs to get you through the week". It was also featured on Mark Beaumont of

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list of tracks of the week and was said to give an update to the story told in

Dork Dork is a pejorative term for a person (compare with " dweeb" and "fool"). Dork may also refer to: People * Dork Sahagian, Armenian-American climate scientist Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Dork'' (EP), an album by AFI * ''Dork'' (magaz ...

described the song as stunning, calling it an "unstoppable slice of heartbreak pop" and a "hypnotic and smooth new anthem". Alexandra Pollard of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' remarked that the song offers "tongue-in-cheek broodiness" and noted that McRae has honed an artistic identity of mood-pop songs.

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * Tidal (album), ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * ...

. * Frequency – producer * Lowell – producer * Bryan Fryzel – lyricist * Elizabeth Lowell Boland – lyricist * Tate McRae – lyricist, associated performer * Dave Kutch – mastering engineer * Jeff Juliano – mixing engineer * David Cook – editor, engineer

Charts

Release history

References

{{Tate McRae 2020 songs 2020 singles Tate McRae songs Songs written by Tate McRae Songs written by Lowell (musician)