Usually, when a pop star releases new music, their fans are ecstatic. But when singer Tate McRae, 21, dropped her latest single, What I Want, on Friday, the reaction was decidedly sour - and strangely political.

The outpouring of hate had little to do with the track itself. Instead, the outrage was focused on the man with whom McRae had collaborated: Country music superstar Morgan Wallen, 32.

Thousands of McRae's fans were left so angry that they flooded social media with their criticisms.

'Collaborating with this piece of garbage is definitely a choice!' one wrote.

'Morgan Wallen single-handedly tanking Tate McRae's career will never not be funny,' chimed in another.

'NOOOO THE TATE MCRAE AND MORGAN WALLEN COLLAB IS REAL' pretty much says it all.

Usually, when a pop star releases new music, their followers are ecstatic. But when singer Tate McRae, 21 (pictured), dropped her latest single, What I Want, on Friday, the reaction was decidedly sour - and, strangely, political.

The outpouring of fan hate had little to do with the track itself. Instead, the outrage was focused on the man with whom McRae collaborated: Country music superstar Morgan Wallen, 32 (pictured on SNL in March). 

Wallen is indeed a controversial figure, who has careened from arrest to scandal to live on-air embarrassments and back again, but, according to sources close to McRae, the young star doesn't much care.

'Tate wants to live positively, and she has Morgan's back because she likes him and is friends with him and that's that,' McRae insiders exclusively told the Daily Mail.

'Tate is proud of the song, and Tate is happy she was given the chance to sing with one of the biggest country artists in the world.'

Perhaps, Wallen's fame – he's the winner of 14 Billboard Music Awards, one Academy of Country Music Award and was named the 2024 Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association – is worth the trouble.

But there's certainly plenty of it.

In May 2020, Wallen was kicked out of rapper Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse in Nashville and arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

That case was dismissed.

The Tennessee native was back in the headlines just five months later when his invitation to appear as a musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live was abruptly cancelled after he was filmed flouting federally recommended Covid restrictions and partying without a face mask at crowded house party in Alabama.

While that behavior may have gone unnoticed late in the pandemic in parts of the country, it provoked a staff revolt in liberal, locked-down New York City and Wallen was told his appearance would be rescheduled.

Then in February 2021, another Wallen-Gate erupted when a video surfaced of the singer drunkenly shouting a racial slur outside his Nashville home.

He was temporarily suspended by his record label, his songs were dropped by radio stations around the country and he was condemned by other artists.

Wallen apologized and tried to dismiss the incident, telling Good Morning America: 'I was around some of my friends, and we say dumb stuff together. In our minds, it's playful… that sounds ignorant, but that's really where it came from.'

Those explanations have not satisfied McRae's fans, with some tagging her 'Tate McRacist' online. But Wallen's star has only risen since.

Thousands of McRae's fans were so angry that they flooded social media with their criticisms. 'Collaborating with this piece of garbage is definitely a choice!' one wrote. (Pictured: Tate McRae and her boyfriend The Kid LAROI). 

Wallen is indeed a controversial figure, who has careened from arrest to scandal to live on-air embarrassments and back again, but, according to sources close to McRae, the young star doesn't much care.

He re-signed with Bid Loud Records and in April a minority stake in his master recordings was sold for upward of $200 million, even as the hits to his reputation keep coming.

In December, Wallen pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment for throwing a chair from the rooftop of a six-story bar in Nashville. And this year, his second appearance on SNL sparked another blow-up in March, after he quickly walked off the stage at the end of the show, breaking the tradition of cast and crew mingling as the credits roll.

An SNL staffer told the Daily Mail at the time that Wallen was 'completely disrespectful' – and they blamed his 'MAGA' politics.

'While he didn't talk about it outright, Morgan wears his political affiliation like a badge of honor,' the SNL insider said. 'He never praised Trump or anything like that – but he is MAGA and everyone knows this.'

Perhaps, then, it is Wallen's perceived politics that have irked the McRae fans the most.

Her followers – many of them young and liberal – are now questioning whether she is 'secretly Republican'.

As one explained on X: 'Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae fans don't run in the same circles. Morgan got popular because rednecks supported him after his racial slur rampage, Tate's fans are the girlies and the gays who care about social justice and such, so of course they're gonna be critical of her.'

Another even took the time to mock up a fake AI image of McRae at the Met Gala wearing a red dress with the word 'MAGA' emblazoned across her chest.

McRae, though, is standing firm.

'She, of course, doesn't want to be connected to controversy, who would?' our insider said. 'She has seen her fans and detractors attack her for collaborating with him, but she refuses to let the haters win.'

One account took the time to mock up a fake image of McRae at the Met Gala wearing a red dress with the word 'MAGA' emblazoned across her chest. (Pictured: An AI fake picture of Tate McRae posted on X by a parody account). 

The source added that while McRae isn't blind to Wallen's missteps, she believes they are irrelevant when it comes to his music.

'Morgan has done some stupid things, and he might do that again. But as far as Tate is concerned, what he has done and what he does from this point is on him, she was there for the music, had an amazing time collaborating and is moving forward,' they said.

'Tate believes that her true fans will see through the hate and see that she did this song for only good reasons,' they added, insisting: 'It is seriously a monumental moment or her career to be working with him.'

Though while McRae appears to be able to separate the music from the man, it doesn't seem like her fans can.