If you don’t know who Addison Rae is, it is safe to say that you might have been living under a rock during quarantine.
The three long years of COVID-19 paved the way for social media influencers in a way that had not been seen before. This was all thanks to a little app called TikTok.
TikTok is a social media application where anyone can upload the content of their choice, and it also curates a “For You Page” that users see every time they refresh.
If you are anything like me, scrolling on this page might have taken up hours of the day back in 2020. This incredible popularity allowed multiple influencers to gain enormous amounts of fame, Rae being at the top of the list.
Like most TikTokers, a majority of Rae’s content consisted of 30-second dance routines and beauty-related content. She often collaborated with other “viral” influencers such as Charli D’Amelio, Bryce Hall and Larray.
However, before all of the internet fame, Rae was like any other 19-year-old girl from Louisiana with a passion for music and dance. She moved to Los Angeles in 2019 and joined the Hype House (a group of TikTok influencers cohabitating and making content together).
In the few short years since she first blew up, Rae has amassed over 100 million followers on TikTok and almost 40 million on Instagram.
As amazing as all this sounds, internet fame does not last forever.
As the times change, so do the trends including which influencers are most popular. After the height of COVID, TikTok dances were no longer on everyone’s “For You Page,” and we started to see less and less of Rae and others like her.
However, Addison Rae would soon become a popular name again — this time in the world of music.
In March 2023, Rae released her debut single titled “Obsessed,” which she even performed on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. While this song received much criticism and was joked about online, many people saw potential.
It is safe to say that Rae took this criticism to heart to make something better. By that summer, she released an EP with five tracks from a “scrapped album.”
This EP was the next stepping stone in her musical career and even featured popular electronic/pop singer Charli XCX. Another song, entitled “Nothing On (But The Radio)” was a track originally written for Lady Gaga.
While the general public stayed divided on whether or not Rae was a serious artist, she also started to grow a fan base that started to stream her music. Many people went online to say that with a little bit of work, she could potentially be “the next pop princess.”
And that is exactly what she attempted to do.
After a long break of not releasing music, in August 2024, Rae dropped a new single called “Diet Pepsi,” which has blown up online and achieved a lot of praise for being a solid pop hit.
The music video has over five million views and has been played over 70 million times on Spotify. Recently, singer Camilla Cabello covered the song in BBC’s live lounge and countless other artists have praised the song.
Not only is the song catchy and upbeat, but Rae has completely revamped her style and aesthetic from “TikToker” fashion to a 2000s wardrobe. Her red carpet looks have been daring and edgy, with many people comparing her to a young Britney Spears.
She performed at Madison Square Garden as a surprise guest at the “Sweat Tour” led by Charli XCX and Troye Sivan — two massive artists in the pop world.
With the success of “Diet Pepsi,” it is safe to say that Rae’s world has been changed from a small-town Louisiana girl to potentially a very popular artist of the next generation of music.
She keeps things intriguing and fresh, and it will be very exciting to see what move she makes next.