Who could have predicted that Addison Rae, the queen of pandemic-era TikTok and subject of one of the internet’s most memorable cringe-fuelled videos, would emerge as the preeminent rising pop diva of 2025? But sure enough, Rae has arrived in every sense of the word. In the era of unerasable digital footprints, she has accomplished the impressive feat of transitioning from social media starlet to serious pop superstar — and has done so with relative seamlessness. Her full-length debut Addison, out today, is a bite-sized pastiche of bubbling, kaleidoscopic pop that whirs, purrs and aggregates moods, images, and feelings with ease. Rather than teetering into obvious copy-paste territory, the album succeeds in the spaces in between its references, in effect delivering something that feels both familiar yet fresh.
But five years after her name entered the pop culture lexicon, who is Addison Rae? In some corners of the internet, she is a master of pop cultural propaganda with a talent for convincing the masses of her artistic merits. If you were to ask Rae herself, she’d likely say that she’s just a Southern girl who’s always had dreams of making it big in entertainment. She also might say that the Addison Rae of today is who she’s been all along. As she told Interview Magazine last summer, “Girl, nobody’s rebranding. This is me.” More recently on the New York Times Popcast, she’s claimed that her TikTok grind was never the goal, but was merely a way for her to gain enough exposure to achieve her entertainment dreams. It’s often said that the truth lies in the middle of two sides of a story, and it’s safe to assume that this notion applies to Rae. Propaganda master or not, her music is good enough to speak on its own.
Across 10 full-length songs and two interludes, Rae navigates sharp thematic and sonic turns with admirable agility. She bounces from languid lust (“Diet Pepsi”) to cheeky sarcasm (“Money is Everything”), creating pendulum swings that keep the listener engaged without pause for the album’s 33 minute duration. From the first thud of album opener “New York,” which bounces off the eardrum superbly, to the seductive slink of “Headphones On” and “Times Like These,” it’s evident that Rae is a dedicated student of pop (as all aspiring pop stars should be). She fluctuates from loose Lana Del Rey-esque gloom (“Diet Pepsi”) to a closing three-track run that invokes touches of soulful ‘90s house and R&B. “Times Like These” and “Headphones On” land somewhere in between the warm, R&B sounds of Madonna’s Bedtime Stories and the cooler, cinematic electronic landscape of Ray of Light. But Rae’s allusions to her pop foremothers manage to come off in a way that evades blatant duplication, and instead land as earnest homages.
The record’s production cocoons Rae’s lyrical efforts that may occasionally land slightly off kilter, but are even more often undeniably fun. Lines like, “when I’m up dancing, please, DJ, play Madonna/Wanna roll one with Lana, get high with Gaga,” jump out upon first listen but capture Rae unabashedly exploring her craft instead of grasping at lyrical straws.
But among all of the album’s delicious references and quirky admissions, it’s Rae’s hunger that is the biggest treat to hear. On one of the record’s greatest feats,“Fame is a Gun,” a bubbling pop bounce seasoned with glitchy inflections, she makes her ambitions clear. As she sings on the second verse, “There’s no mystery, I’m gonna make it, gonna go down in history/Don’t ask too many questions, God gave me the permission/And when you shame me, it makes me want it more.” Moments like these, when she breaks the fourth wall and plays into the narrative of how badly she wants to make it, add a piece to the puzzle of her persona, and in retrospect make all of the paparazzi stunts and creative COVID-19 masks make sense. If nothing else, the girl knows how to keep people talking — and isn’t that all you need to launch a pop career these days?
Rae’s earnestness is no doubt a key part of what’s gotten her to this point. How can you not take fondly to a 24-year-old girl from Louisiana with unmistakable Southern charm not far off from fellow Lousianan Britney Spears? Where other current pop girls have taken the same approach of packaging collected aesthetics and sounds into their own (recent memory calls back to Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO), the difference is that Rae’s pursuit of pop’s top tier isn’t a hard sell. Whether it be a genius creative team behind her or that indescribable “it” factor driving her smooth transition into the big leagues of pop, it’s safe to say she’s pulling it off. Put plainly, she makes it look easy.
In a discussion earlier this year about Rae’s pursuit of fame and creative worthiness, a friend of mine put it plainly: “at least you can tell she wants it.” And really, what more can we ask of our pop stars than to want it?
Keep up with Addison Rae: Instagram // TikTok // YouTube // Website
