Tons more people are going to be googling “Malcolm McRae” now.
According to People (via the Daily Mail) this past weekend McRae, a musician/model who grew up in the Birmingham area, married Anya Taylor-Joy, the A-list actor known for her TV/film roles in “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Menu,” “The Witch,” etc.
Their wedding reportedly took place at a Venice, Italy, palace called Palazzo Pisani Moretta. Guests are said to have included the likes of actors Julia Garner, Miles Teller and Cara Delevingne.
Taylor-Joy, who is 27, and McRae, 29, have been dating for around two-and-a-half years. According to E!, the couple were first spotted together in public May 2021 in New York.
Taylor-Joy was born in Miami and resided in Buenos Aires and the U.K. growing up. In December 2022, she was spotted at an Alabama Ballet performance of “The Nutcracker” in Birmingham. The previous year, she’d spent Thanksgiving in Alabama. It was there Taylor-Joy first encountered both American football and sweet potatoes with marshmallows, as she later recalled on morning talk show “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
As a musician, McRae is the singer for more*, a two-piece rock-band a la the White Stripes which also features Kane Ritchotte, a multi-instrumentalist formerly with successful indie-rock band Portugal. The Man. (The band names “more*” and “Portugal. The Man” are both stylized.)
In 2022, more* released “Really Want To See You Again,” a catchy pop-rock song McRae had reportedly written just a couple days after he and Taylor-Joy first met. Although his band isn’t a household name, they’re signed to major label Warner Records and toured with hipster-rockers Haim last summer. Key tracks on their six-song EP “Another Change,” released last year, also include psychedelic-tinged ballad “Whose Side You’re On” and tuneful “Woman on the Move.”
McRae is legitimately talented. He’s got an able, emotive singing voice. And judging by his stage mannerisms, hoodie and downturned mic in the “Really Want To See You Again” video, he’s familiar with the work of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that McRae, who has a shaggy Strokes style haircut and lithe 6-foot-2 frame, has cheekbones that could cut glass. Not surprisingly, he’s also found work as a fashion model, for brands including Celine and Dior. Way back in 2012, his services were sought after as an escort for the Candlelight Ball, a soiree presenting high school senior girls from the Birmingham suburb of Mountain Brook.
Upcoming projects for the newlyweds include a full-length album for McRae’s band and Taylor-Joy starring in the “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel “Furiosa.”