"Revolving Door" is a song by Canadian singer Tate McRae. It was released through RCA Records on February 21, 2025, as the fourth single from her third studio album So Close to What (2025). McRae wrote the track with Julia Michaels and its producers, Grant Boutin and Ryan Tedder. "Revolving Door" is a pop song with lyrics about coming back to a toxic relationship several times. An accompanying music video directed by Aerin Moreno premiered on the same date; it sees McRae and a group of dancers performing in a room with fifteen doors.
Tate McRae announced the release of her third studio album, So Close to What, on November 14, 2024.[1] She also announced the Miss Possessive Tour, which will take place in North America, South America, and Europe between March and September 2025.[2][3] Prior to its release, the album was promoted by the singles "It's OK I'm OK", "2 Hands", and "Sports Car".[4] The three peaked within the top 20 in the United Kingdom,[5] while the former reached number 20 in the United States[6] and topped the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart.[7] "Revolving Door" was released alongside the album on February 21, 2025, as its fourth single.[8]
Composition
"Revolving Door" is three minutes long. It was written by McRae, Ryan Tedder, Gran Boutin, and Julia Michaels, while the former two produced it. Both played keyboards and performed the background vocals, while Tedder additionally played synthesizers. Boutin was also the song's programmer and engineer, the latter role alongide Rich & Rich and Bryce Bordone. Serban Ghenea and Dave Kutch served as the mixing engineer and mastering engineer, respectively.[9]
Music critics have categorized "Revolving Door" as a pop[10] and Jersey club song[11] built over a dancehall beat.[10][12] Nick Levine of NME compared its sound to the more experimental songs from In the Zone (2003) by Britney Spears.[13] The lyrics of "Revolving Door" depict McRae coming back to the same person several times, although it always results in a toxic relationship.[6][12][13] She mentions the desire of confronting someone for a "bad habit" but not being able to do so.[14] The track ends frantically, with McRae pleading, "I'm supposed to be an adult, but fuck it, I need a minute," which Sam Franzini of The Line of Best Fit interpreted as "the realization part of the healing".[6]
Reception
In a ranking of the tracks from So Close to What, Billboard's Lyndsey Havens placed "Revolving Door" at number four and praised McRae's vocal performance, which she called a standout on the album.[6]Rolling Stone included it on a list of the best songs of its release week and called it a "sleek, moody highlight".[15] Lyndsay Zoladz of The New York Times believed that it contains a "more promising and vulnerable sound" than McRae's previous songs. The critic described the chorus as a "anxious heartbeat",[16] which Clare Martin of Paste compared it to a "musical edging", citing a "fast beat that builds to a whole lot of nothing".[17]
Music video
The music video for "Revolving Door" premiered on McRae's YouTube channel on the same date as the album's release.[18] Aerin Moreno directed it while Robbie Blue was in charge of the choreography.[19] The video starts with McRae entering a white room and the direction focuses on her flexibility; Aaron Williams of Uproxx said that it prepared him for body horror from the film The Substance (2024), although he found it the only parallel.[20] It follows McRae and a group of dancers in all-white outfits performing in a room with fifteen doors; each one represents a different track from So Close to What, according to the singer.[21] After finalizing the choreography, she cries and repeats it, which according to Abbie Reynolds of Capital, represents "the feeling of being trapped in a never ending cycle".[14]
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