Following her “earnest” performance at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, singer-songwriter Jensen McRae had a run-in with Andy Cohen that could have gone horribly wrong.
“It was fun to get all dolled up. … Jeff Goldblum walked by me and my brother, and I didn’t hear him say it, but apparently he said something about us being well-dressed and I was like, ‘That’s everything to me,’” McRae told exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, October 3, at the 2025 Austin City Limits Music Festival.
“He was wearing a cool leather jacket, just the coolest guy ever,” she added.
McRae also crossed paths with Reneé Rapp and some Love Island cast members at the awards ceremony, hosted by “Las Culturistas” podcasters Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers. But it was her interaction with Cohen, 57, that proved to be the most memorable.
“I almost fell down the stairs in front of Andy Cohen,” she joked. “I didn’t. I caught myself. I came off stage and he was like, ‘You’re amazing,’ and I was like, ‘Andy Cohen,’ and then I almost fell down the stairs.”
The sun has set on the first weekend of Austin City Limits 2025, but fans are taking plenty of unforgettable memories with them. From Friday, October 3, to Sunday, October 5, mainstream musicians and indie artists alike brought unbeatable energy to Austin’s Zilker Park, braving the sweltering heat for a weekend filled with fun in […]
McRae’s beloved ballad “Massachusetts” was nominated for Record of the Year at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards, which were taped in July and aired on Bravo the following month. Lady Gaga‘s “Abracadabra” ultimately took home the win, but McRae gave one of the most devastating (a compliment) performances of the night.
“It’s funny because, like, the reason that it happened was because I didn’t notice that Matt followed me on TikTok. And then when I did, I followed him back and I was like, ‘I can’t believe you follow me.’ … And then he saw on my TikTok that I have a playlist of Taylor Swift covers that I have done. And I call that playlist ‘Tayla Swiff,’” McRae explained, referencing some of Us‘ favorite “Las Culturistas” lore. “And so he was like, ‘Oh, my God. Wait.’”
Jensen McRae Taylor Regulski for ACL Festival 2025
As for whether McRae considers herself a Reader, Publicist, Katie or Finalist, the answer is up in the air. “Who’s to say?” she teased. “But I am a big fan. I’m a huge fan of both of theirs.”
Agreeing to perform at the awards show was a no-brainer, but Rogers and Yang wanted McRae to take the moment one step further.
“I saw that most of the stuff that was going on was obviously very camp and very satirical in a lot of ways and they were like, ‘Just sing it so honestly, like, be so earnest and so serious,’” she recalled. “And I was like, ‘OK,’ and that ended up being both a moment of comedy in itself. But also a breather in the show where it’s just laugh after laugh after laugh. Like, ‘Oh, and now there’s tears,’ and then back to laughs.”
McRae, who released the stellar album I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! earlier this year, is no stranger to evoking emotion from fans. While planning out her ACL setlist, the songwriter tried to avoid people “being moved to tears at 3 p.m.” — a tall task for music as gut-wrenching as her own.
The 2025 Grammy Awards were about celebrating so much more than the best music of the past year. As the annual awards show kicked off Sunday, February 2, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles — with Taylor Swift leading a star-studded carpet — host Trevor Noah set the tone of what music’s biggest night would […]
“I think I feel some hesitation, like, the night before I release something. I always have that moment of wondering why I do what I do,” McRae told Us when asked whether it ever gives her pause to be so forthcoming in her lyrics. “But whenever I get messages from fans about how much the music means to them and how much [it] resonates with them, that always makes me realize it was worth it. And I think I do a pretty good job of still keeping some things for myself. … I always know where the line is. And as long as I keep some things to myself and keep some things private, it feels like it’s a type of sharing that doesn’t feel like oversharing.”
Since launching her career pre-COVID, McRae is still taken aback by the community of fans she’s fostered, especially as a Black woman in the indie and folk genres.
“I did a meet and greet in London at the beginning of this year and I had multiple people come up to me and say, ‘I met my best friend at your show.’ And it was like a lot of women of color saying like, ‘I’m here with her now. And we met at your show six months ago.’ And I was just like, ‘Wow, that is so special,’” she told Us. “Like, I can’t believe that my music has been able to bring not only community to people, but also obviously to give so many young women the opportunity to feel like they have a voice that they didn’t know that they had.”
