Addison Rae Is the Perfect Pop Star for the TikTok Generation, But Is That a Good Thing?

Pop's new breakout star is making some of the year's most celebrated music. Does it matter that she's nothing but a figment of her own creation?

The people have spoken, and they want their pop stars back. It seemed for a moment, in the early years of the 2020s decade, that music listeners were trending towards the indie-pop stylings of artists like Phoebe Bridgers (as well as her collaborative effort with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, boygenius), Clairo, girl in red, and others of the same ilk. Formerly established, but otherwise niche, artists like Mitski, and the more up-and-coming actor/singer, Djo, found themselves with unexpected hits on their hands after recent releases found virality on TikTok. This growth in the success of bedroom pop can be attributed, at least in some part, to what I would call the “folklore effect”. With the release of Taylor Swift’s surprise alt-pop opus in the throes of the first pandemic summer, a new wave of music consumption was ushered in- both by fans of hers seeking music that matched Swift’s new sound, and because of artists capitalizing off of folklore’s success and shifting their sound accordingly.

Although artists like Gracie Abrams are still taking advantage of bedroom pop’s success- as well as Swift’s recent hiatus- and attempting to fill the void left by the pop titan and finding chart success as a result, I think it’s safe to say that the last sparks of the bedroom pop surge have all but fizzled out. If 2024 was any indication of where the industry is headed, listeners are hungry for capital-P Pop Stars once more. Chappel Roan found herself caught in a whirlwind of one of the most surprisingly organic success stories we’ve seen in recent years, with her music soaring on streaming platforms after her 2024 Coachella performance went viral. Sabrina Carpenter and Tate McRae, both of whom had previously achieved mild chart success with past releases, reached new heights with the release of their most recent albums and subsequent singles. Even a legendary act like Lady Gaga is once again earning critical acclaim for her theatrical, maximalist take on pop music. The first half of 2025 has seen these stars, and others, maintain and expand their positions as music’s current obsession. The revival of pop doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down any time soon.

Addison Rae / High Fashion (Official Music Video)

Enter: Addison Rae. The artist formerly known as TikTok’s it-girl began her transition into fledgling pop star all the way back in 2021, with the release of her debut single, “Obsessed.” The song was intended to be the lead single to a now-scrapped debut album due to excessive leaks and Rae’s decision to shift her creative direction as a result. The track failed to gain much attention outside of her pre-existing social media audience, but has gone on to develop a cult following among her current fan base. Some of the other tracks from what fans now refer to as the “lost album” did see the light of day in 2023, when Rae gifted fans the AR EP, containing four previously leaked tracks, among them a collaboration with Charli xcx. Keeping in mind that this was a pre-BRAT world, this may have seemed like a somewhat head-scratching decision. Why would an underground pop sensation on the cutting edge of the genre want to lend her endorsement to a social media star’s emerging music career?

For those that were in the know, this collaboration was less surprising than it was inevitable- a passing of the torch moment welcoming Rae into the realm of underground pop auteurs. During her transitory period when she was still vacillating between TikTok influencer and nascent pop star, Rae’s personal Spotify was discovered. With this discovery came the knowledge that the girl most well-known for her affiliation with TikTok content conglomerate, the Hype House, was listening to Arca and SOPHIE after she uploaded her last dancing video of the night. This piqued the interest of the same sector of the listening public that continues to lend their support to lesser-known queer talents- fellow queer people, many of whom are gay men, who spend a considerable amount of time participating in online pop music discourse. While this isn’t a large subset of listeners, it is an essential one for an artist interested in establishing themselves a loyal cult following. A persona was starting to develop.

Rae continued to rack up gay street cred with subsequent music releases and public appearances, the most prominent of which being her guest verse on the remix to Charli xcx’s BRAT lead single, “Von Dutch.” As previously mentioned, Charli is something of a gatekeeper for the queer underground pop scene. Anybody who wants to become somebody in the genre can only benefit from her endorsement- artists like Caroline Polachek and Kim Petras used the recognition from their respective collaborations with Charli to boost their own pop music careers. Following the remix came a string of singles leading up to what was assumed would eventually be Rae’s debut studio album. Chief among these is, “Diet Pepsi,” the synth-pop, Lana Del Rey-esque track that earned Rae a placement on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a slew of new fans from the alt-pop space. Addison Rae was becoming, by all standard measures, the perfect pop star to represent the TikTok generation, but what does that really mean?

This brings us to today, at the zenith of the Dawn of Addison, and the release of her debut self-titled studio album. So far, the reception from fans and critics alike has been overwhelmingly positive, with listeners complimenting the record’s sonic cohesion and overall vibe. The album itself is 33-minutes of bright, glossy, 90s pop revivalism combined with the modern electronic elements that have made her contemporaries so interesting. Rae floats her way across each track in a breathy soprano, never deviating much from the vocal tone she displayed on the album’s five pre-release singles. There is cohesion in the album’s themes and sonic pallet, with a focus on young love, escapism, and personal discovery. Its sole producers, Luka Kloser and Elvira Anderfjärd, bring the Swedish pop stylings of Max Martin- owner of both producers’ publishing company- and combine that with the obvious influence of 90s electronica, most prominently Madonna’s magnum opus, Ray of Light. The music is often well-produced and referentially dense, but lyrically hollow. But these are not things that matter to most listeners… does the music sound good? By and large, yes, it does.

I’ve alluded thus far about the element of self-mythologization that has been a prominent part of Rae’s rebrand from social media influencer to budding pop sensation. A key tenet of stan culture as a whole is revisionist history, and Addison Rae’s fans have only relied on an existing playbook when addressing the artist’s problematic past- whether that be her family history, prior instances of racism, or enthusiastic introduction with Trump, to name a few examples. Rae built her initial social profile as part of the Hype House, a group of TikTok creators who lived and produced content together in a rented mansion during the heyday of the app’s influence, paying their bills by lip-syncing to songs and making energy drink advertisements. During this time, Rae was catering to a primarily young, straight audience that were interested in her dance abilities and, much later, the interpersonal dramas that brought the Hype House to an end. This is a far cry from her current position as the pop underground’s latest fixation.

Here is where the self-mythologizing becomes important. Rae stood no chance of breaking into the “mainstream” music culture, as evidenced by the failure of her original debut single, “Obsessed.” There is no lack of uninspired dance-pop on the radio today, but someone like Rae was not in a position to be taken seriously enough to break through regardless of the quality of her music. So, she had to pivot. She found a new target audience that would bring her the initial success she needed to make a name for herself as a musician- one that would also be willing to ignore or redirect attention away from her problematic past and former career. Addison Rae became a figment of her own creation, and it worked better than anyone could have ever expected.

An interesting element of Rae’s self-creation is the way in which it has shielded her from accusations of being a so-called “industry plant,” that so many of her contemporaries have had to face. While the majority of these claims are completely false and based on more sinister foundations like misogyny and anti-blackness, it is still notable that Rae has been able to avoid them thus far. In a way, there is an irony that exists between her music having a manufactured sound without ever having been labeled as manufactured. There are many other artists that have paid their dues in ways Rae has never had to, and have still been accused of being force fed to audiences by their label through shady tactics such as payola and paid playlisting.

There’s one main reason why Rae’s new image and style-over-substance approach to music have been able to find so much success in today’s music landscape- modern day music consumers are not concerned with substance as much as they are the general sound and aesthetic of the art they consume. The qualities that make Rae’s music lackluster in certain areas, the most important of which being her music’s glaring lack of lyrical depth, are not unique to her as an artist. Nowadays, everything is a reference to something. Even the references have references. An entire cottage industry of musicians have been able to find success by relying on 90s nostalgia bait and the tried-and-true sounds of one of music’s most famous bygone eras to catapult themselves to notoriety. Much of the music that achieves chart success today does not do so because of its quality or the artistry and skill that went into its creation; it does so because it has been able to replicate a sound that listeners are already conditioned to favor. We are all victims of sonic Stockholm Syndrome.

Addison Rae / Aquamarine (Official Music Video)

As a result of this rinse-and-repeat cycle of music creation, artists have taken the signal from listeners and contributed to the vicious cycle forming. Eras are shorter, albums have fewer singles, less promotion is done, and artists move from one project to the next at a rapid rate in order to satisfy the shortening attention spans of the public. Addison Rae’s music may be pleasing to the ear, but it lacks the lyrical depth that would take it to another level, creatively. Though she is often compared to her mentor and collaborator, Charli xcx, there lies a distinction between the catchy pop earworms that make up Addison and those found on BRAT. At its core, BRAT is an album with something to say. Charli speaks on her position in the culture, as well as her relationships with fame, love, and her family. The fact that BRAT has been able to find both cult and mainstream success is evidence of Charli’s talent as a songwriter and producer- her music is able to satisfy those wanting a quick pop music high and those looking for something more substantial. If you combine Rae’s lyrical inadequacies with her seeming inability to replicate her recorded vocals in a live performance setting, it becomes clearer that at least some of the mythos around Rae is just that- a myth.

Let me be clear- Addison Rae is not the first pop star to manufacture an image for herself to accompany her music, and she will certainly not be the last. Far less talented people have achieved far greater success based off the creation myths that many celebrities often find themselves having to develop in order to set themselves apart from their peers. Even the modern pop success stories I referenced in the introduction- people like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan- have established a lane in the crowded modern music industry by highlighting aspects of their persona that make them stand out. What makes Rae different in this regard is the way she’s been able to pass off a Frankenstein of her influences as a distinctive musical identity. She’s seemingly been window shopping at the mall of former pop star personality traits, borrowing the youthful girl-next-door charm of Britney Spears, the good girl gone wild public image of Christina Aguilera, and the cool girl aloofness of Charli xcx. Her music is not much different, taking direct influence from 90s and 2000s pop icons like Spears, Madonna, and Kylie Minogue, but not doing very much to justify why an Addison Rae song is unique to Addison Rae.

The music industry continues to place an outsized emphasis on an artist’s perceived relatability. Pop stars are expected to bare their souls in their music, unpacking aspects of their personal lives better suited for a diary than millions of strangers. On top of that, they must also establish a social media presence that paints themselves as one of our best friends- someone who shares the minutiae of their daily life while also maintaining an air of mystery and untouchability that is essential for any celebrity. Addison Rae appears to check all of these boxes- we know about her family and relationship drama from her TikTok days, and she chronicles her life in quirky social media posts that make her seem like both your weird cousin and the poster child for the stereotypical eccentric celebrity. The reality of the situation is that we have no idea who Addison Rae is, aside from what she’s told us to think about her. Her imagine is curated in a way that can sometimes go as far as pandering to her audience, and her music reveals nothing more. She was plucked from the TikTok For You page, reassembled, and placed before us as a fully-formed entity. The product of her own painstakingly intricate design.

Addison Rae is a facsimile of the pop star that she claims to be. She meticulously engineered her image and found a window in the pop music landscape where she knew she would thrive. Like many other stars emerging in the current post-TikTok era, the music itself has always come second to the curation of an image and vibe that is appetizing to listeners. Her plan has fallen exactly into place. Maybe this has been her goal all along, and we’re nothing but putty in her hands. She is exactly the finished product that she wants us to see, despite the music reflecting exactly how manufactured her personal image has become. Oh well. At least people are listening, right?