“Addison” album cover (Courtesy of Ethan James Green and Columbia Records)
Rhett Kaya: From TikTok trends to the latest Taylor Swift album, there is always something CU Boulder students are obsessing over, opinionated about or adding to their vernacular. The Culture Critic will keep you up to date with the latest in entertainment and popular culture through content reviews, analysis and my self-proclaimed professional opinion.
Everybody knows who Addison Rae is. Not everyone knows about her debut album, “Addison.” Some see her as a pop star, others as a TikToker, and maybe that’s a good thing. We scour the depths of the internet, eager to uncover the scaffolding behind every emerging face that crosses our screens. Nepotism baby? Industry plant? We are desperate for an explanation—a story—and fortunately for Addison Rae, her prominent presence as a TikTok star in the early 2020s leaves little to the imagination.
Addison’s roughly 88 million TikTok followers and 34 million Instagram followers put her in a prime position to transition into the world of pop music. Still, she has an uphill battle to fight in the public eye: remove the TikTok stench and replace it with something shinier. To some, this rebranding comes across as inauthentic. Yet others can’t help but be charmed by the earnestness and irony of a Southern-born TikTok star famous for thirty-second dance videos in a furniture-less L.A. mansion, turning on the microphone simply because she wants to.
In the music video for “Diet Pepsi,” the record’s lead single, a monochrome Addison seductively sings about the luster of lust and losing one’s innocence. When the song and video first dropped in August of 2024, many were left wondering if Addison, seen waving around an American flag in her underwear, was molding herself into Gen Z’s Lana Del Rey. But then her second single, “Aquamarine,” veered closer to an early Madonna sound and the third single, “High Fashion,” felt reminiscent of FKA Twigs, who just so happened to release her latest record, “Eusexua,” a few months prior. Addison isn’t trying to be the next Lana Del Rey and can’t be because Gen Z’s Lana Del Rey is Lana Del Rey. Addison also can’t invite us into her world without citing the artists who shaped her upbringing and life as a Gen Z young adult. This meta form of song crafting is perfect for those who truly know Lana Del Rey enough to know she would never write a song as motionless as “Diet Pepsi,” but maybe too complex for those wondering what exactly Addison Rae brings to the table.
In an interview with New York Times writers Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarlelli, Addison revealed her favorite music to listen to is her own. A response, potentially too arrogant or mindless to be calculated. She’s not sitting down with a pen, paper and dictionary to construct something lyrically sharp. She’s dancing in the studio with her three-person production team, asking, “What feels right here?” As a result, you won’t find meaning by piecing together her songs like a lyrical puzzle. What’s so fascinating, and perhaps refreshing, about her music is how the epiphanies come in feeling. The crashing of “New York” feels like a walk down the bustling streets of America’s biggest city. The vibrant pink synths in “Headphones On” feel like the escape music provides when we, well, put our headphones on.
Addison Rae in the “Headphones On” music video (Courtesy of YouTube/Addison Rae)
Perhaps the most inorganic element of Addison’s pivot to pop is her decision to drop the “Rae” from her stage name. Although she hasn’t officially changed her name on streaming platforms, in the lead-up to her album, her website stated her new album, “Addison,” would be the first and last album by “Addison Rae,” potentially hinting at a future name change. This could be a ploy to separate the TikTok star we were introduced to in 2019 from her new pop student persona or an attempt at standing out amongst other prominent “Raes” (Carly Rae Jepsen, Tate McRae, Corinne Bailey Rae). Although in an interview with internet personality Quenlin Blackwell, Addison claimed the change was a practical attempt at making signatures quicker. Regardless, part of Rae’s allure comes from her past as a TikTok influencer. It gives her something to work against; it frames her as an underdog; it requires a certain level of open-mindedness and earnestness to support someone that so many are committed to rejecting.
In track ten, “Times Like These,” Addison wistfully sings about overwhelming confusion. It’s unclear what she is confused about; there is little context about what “times like these” she is referring to, and while this type of vague songwriting could come across as lazy, it ultimately benefits her. There are nuggets of truth hidden in her songs, lyrics for the listener to twist and interpret as they choose. There are moments when we need Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo to map out every inch of a heartbreak so we can make sense of our own. But sometimes, we don’t know what we want; the windows are down, the city lights are awake, and all we need is a song to decorate our surroundings.
Former TikTok star Addison Rae doesn’t have the answers to the universe, hidden ingenuity or lyrical expertise, but on her debut record, “Addison,” it’s clear there is something about the human experience, grand or mundane, that she just gets. “If you get it, you get it” is often a foil used to combat critique, but with music crafted based on “pure vibes,” you’re either in sync with Rae’s vision or you aren’t.
You can listen to “Addison” on all available streaming platforms.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Rhett Kaya at rhett.kaya@colorado.edu
