What is ‘TIT FOR TAT’ by Tate McRae about?
‘TIT FOR TAT’ is a breakup song about retaliation after a split. The phrase “tit for tat” is an English idiom that means to retaliate against someone in some way. For example, if someone talks badly about you behind your back, you might do the same to them—that’s tit for tat. In Tate’s song, she addresses an ex who seemingly released a song about her. In a meta lyrical twist, she’s presenting this song as her retaliation and response, singing, “let’s go song for song, let’s go back to back / Let’s go tit for tat, boy, you asked for that.” In other words, she’s making it clear that, if he decides to keep releasing songs about her or making things messy in the public sphere, she’ll do the same thing to make sure that her side of the story is heard. The song also reveals that her ex’s actions were a total shock to the singer (“Should’ve known you’d be the type to change”), and that she had even thought they might get back together eventually. McRae sings, “though I might love you again, I’ll see how I feel / Now that you’re acting like that, I never will…I was hearing sh*t I never thought you’d say / Could have picked it up exactly where we left it / Took our future off your plate.”
Is ‘TIT FOR TAT’ about The Kid Laroi?
It’s likely that “TIT FOR TAT” is about The Kid Laroi, but it’s unconfirmed. Tate herself hasn’t confirmed anything about the person who inspired the track—so, anything we say here is unsubstantiated! However, there are quite a few clues that “TIT FOR TAT” is about McRae’s ex and his recent release, “A COLD PLAY.” First off, The Kid Laroi is Tate’s most recent ex, and “TIT FOR TAT” is the first song she’s released since their split. The Kid Laroi, on the other hand, did release an earlier surprise song called “A COLD PLAY” on September 5th, 2025. In the track, The Kid Laroi seems to take aim at Tate and portray her in a negative light, singing, “Who was I to think that I could fix you, baby?” This all came as a huge surprise to fans of both McRae and The Kid Laroi, as neither had spoken (or sung) negatively about the other since their (at the time, unconfirmed) breakup. Three weeks later, Tate released “TIT FOR TAT,” and multiple lyrics and aspects of the song seem to point to The Kid Laroi: “Let's go song for song, let's go back to back.” This line implies that Tate is responding to another song written by another musician or songwriter. “Fix your f**king self, kiss my a** for that.” This line seems to respond to “A COLD PLAY”’s chorus, which includes the lyrics, “But it's my fault for thinking I could / Fix you…It's really hard to accept the fact that I can't / Fix you.” “TIT FOR TAT” is the stylized title of the song, and the first song that Tate’s released with an all-caps title. Which musician always capitalizes their song titles? You guessed it—The Kid Laroi!
‘TIT FOR TAT’ Lyric Breakdown & Explanation
In the chorus, Tate says her ex has ended their chances together. Opening with the chorus, Tate sings, “Thought I might love you again, see how I feel / Now that you're acting like that, I never will / Last night, she answered my call, it sealed the deal / Right now, I'm not even about you.” This implies that Tate was on good terms with her ex, even thinking that they might get back together at some point. However, now that she’s seen the way he’s switched up and is now releasing diss tracks about her, she’s second-guessing. Then, when another girl “answered [her] call,” which many interpret as Tate trying to call her ex, but a new girl picked up his phone, it “sealed the deal” that they were over. Now, Tate’s “not even about” him.
In the first verse, Tate says her ex isn’t who she thought he was. She says that the first day she met him “was a blessing” and that she “always took [his] side” when they were together. However, she’s disappointed by the fact that now, after they’ve broken up, he’s “tryna make it messy” even though she thought they “were good.” She goes on to sing, “I was hearing sh*t I never thought you'd say,” and explain that she didn’t even think they were done for good: “Could have picked it up exactly where we left it / Took our future off your plate.”
In the pre-chorus, Tate directly challenges her ex to “go tit for tat.” Cementing the theory that this song is about a fellow musician, Tate invites her ex to “go song for song,” “back for back,” and “tit for tat.” Not because she wanted it, but because he “asked for that” by releasing a song that talks badly about her, and now she’s asserting her right to defend herself and set the record straight. In another version of the pre-chorus later in the song, Tate sings, “Fix your f**king self, kiss my a** for that, which is seemingly in response to the claim on The Kid Laroi’s “A Cold Play” that he couldn’t “fix” his ex-girlfriend. Also in the pre-chorus, Tate implies that her ex’s new song isn’t even that good: “That’s the best you got, where’s the good one at?” Not to be messyyyy ourselves (????), but it’s worth noting that “TIT FOR TAT” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Completely unrelatedly (????), The Kid Laroi’s “A COLD PLAY” didn’t chart on the main Billboard Hot 100 chart…at all.
In the second verse, Tate continues to express frustration with her ex. She sings that she “was nothing but respectful, and [he] know[s] that,” but that he’s now “changing up the narrative to write.” Leading into the next pre-chorus (where she invites him to go “tit for tat”), she says that she doesn’t even want to release this song, make things messy, and invite the public into their business, but she feels like she has no choice: “No, I can’t do this, you’re making me do this.”
How has the public responded to ‘TIT FOR TAT’?
‘TIT FOR TAT’ was released on September 26th, 2025, to mostly positive reviews. After its unexpected release, the track quickly went viral as fans speculated that the song was about The Kid Laroi and his recent breakup with Tate McRae. Given that McRae’s song was a perceived “reply” to her ex’s unprompted diss-like song about her, most of the chatter around “TIT FOR TAT” has been positive. Fans have been largely supporting McRae, and the song debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100—making it her best ever debut. The positive response is even clearer given that Taylor Swift—who is (pretty much inarguably) the world’s biggest pop star—went on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and shared that “TIT FOR TAT” is a “great new song” that she’s currently listening to at “full volume, over and over again on repeat.” The next day (October 7th, 2025), McRae reposted clips of Swift’s interview on her own Instagram story. She paired the clips with the caption “Oh my Godddddddddd ????????????????????????????????????????????????????whaaaaaaaaaaat.”
How did The Kid Laroi respond to ‘TIT FOR TAT’?
As of October 7th, 2025, The Kid Laroi hasn’t responded to “TIT FOR TAT.” At the time of writing, The Kid Laroi hasn’t explicitly or publicly responded to Tate McRae’s (his ex-girlfriend) song “TIT FOR TAT.” That being said, McRae’s song—which is widely believed to be directed toward The Kid Laroi—only came out on September 26th, 2025. So, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any new releases from either of these two pop star exes ????
More Songs by Tate McRae
Other popular Tate McRae songs include “Greedy” and “Sports Car.” After a slow and steady start to her career, McRae has really burst onto the mainstream pop girl scene in the last couple of years. Her 2023 single, “Greedy,” became a global smash hit, quickly catapulting her to new heights. Along with “Greedy,” here are some other Tate tracks you should listen to now (and think later). We’ll tease some lyrics from each song, too! ‘Sports Car’ – I think you know what this is / I think you wanna uh / No, you ain't got no Mrs. / Oh, but you got a sports car ‘Exes’ – Kisses to my exes who don't give a sh*t about me / Kisses, kisses to the next ones who think they can live without me ‘You Broke Me First’ – Now suddenly you're asking for it back / Could you tell me, where'd you get the nerve? / Yeah, you could say you miss all that we had / But I don't really care how bad it hurts / When you broke me first ‘Revolving Door’ – But I keep comin' back like a revolvin' door / Say I couldn't want you less, but I just want you more ‘Just Keep Watching’ – Goes like this, start with the track / Eyes on me, arching my back / Just like this, here for the night / You ain't buying in? Just keep watching
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