Dakota Johnson Describes Friend Tate McRae as ‘Tender and Deeply Kind’ as Singer Appears on TIME100 Next Cover

McRae will perform at the TIME100 Next Gala in New York in October

Tate McRae for TIME100 Next.

Tate McRae is a cover girl!

The pop star appears on one of three covers of the 2025 TIME100 Next issue, and the outlet tapped her pal Dakota Johnson to write an accompanying essay, parts of which were shared exclusively with PEOPLE.

The Materialists actress, 35, calls McRae, 22, “tender and deeply kind,” and writes about getting to know the “Greedy” singer, who will be performing at the TIME100 Next event on Oct. 30 in New York City.

“I’ve witnessed her quiet confidence, and how genuinely present she is,” writes Johnson.

“I’ve watched her listen closely to the world around her and truly absorb moments that inspire her.

I’ve seen her brain working and her soul expanding.

She is tender and deeply kind.”.

Tate McRae in Elmont, New York in September 2024.
McRae opened up to PEOPLE in December 2023 about breaking into the mainstream, calling her rise to fame “the biggest whirlwind of my life.”.

“This has been the biggest whirlwind of my life, and honestly just the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced,” she said at the time.

“I have a very hard time wrapping my head around it.”

The Canadian musician “always thought I’d grow up and be maybe a backup dancer” after years of competitive dancing and placing third on So You Think You Can Dance in 2016.

Her breakthrough single, “You Broke Me First,” came out in 2021 and she released her debut studio album, I Used to Think I Could Fly, in May 2022.

Still, she admitted to feeling moments of shock.

“I suffer from impostor syndrome really bad when I show up to places like SNL, like, ‘Why am I here?’” McRae said of the variety sketch show she’s appeared on twice.

“This is just a big dream.”.

In February, she gave insight to her creative process, and how “rule number one” is to “never search yourself up on the internet.”.

“All it does is literally just stunt your creativity.

I think the worst place to write or create music from is a place of fear and judgment,” she told PEOPLE at the time.

“It’s human nature to go out and look for bad things, and see what you need to work on, and see what people don’t like about you.

Honestly, I’ve just been like, ‘I need to get off my phone.’”

McRae released her latest single, “TIT FOR TAT”, on Friday, Sept. 26.

She is currently touring the U.S. on her Miss Possessive Tour with upcoming stops in Seattle, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Austin, Palm Desert, and other cities through early November.

Tate McRae performing on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ in March 2025.

The 2025 TIME100 Next issue, which celebrates 100 emerging leaders from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership, will hit newsstands on Friday, Oct. 3.