It is difficult for TikTok stars to become more than social media influencers and transition their careers into more conventional fame. But a select few are able to defy the odds. Addison Rae looks poised to pull it off.
Rae, who gained attention after uploading dance videos to trending songs on TikTok in 2020, has been making her way into the pop culture zeitgeist with a series of appearances and collaborations that are stepping out of social media and into mainstream celebrity.
The 24-year-old Louisiana native was one of the original Netflix Hype House members in 2019, alongside Charli D’Amelio and Chase Hudson.
Rae tried to expand her horizons by acting in Netflix’s He’s All That, a gender-flipped remake of She’s All That. Critics and fans panned the film. The rom-com remake landed a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
So Rae tried something different, branching into making her own pop music, a move that seems like a natural progression from her rise to fame as a dancer on TikTok.
And early signs suggest she just might pull it off.
Addison Rae Steps Into Pop Music
In 2021, Rae released her debut single, Obsessed. The songs style and lyrics have been compared to Chari XCX and Selena Gomez.
Despite a polarized reaction from critics and the internet, the song did fairly well. However, the album was never officially released. On several occasions, Rae alluded to the album being “lost” on her now-deleted Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Whether seeking to build guerilla marketing or entirely by accident, demos from the lost album were leaked online—and found fanfare.
Even Charli XCX liked them, calling some of the leaked songs “cult classic.”
Needless to say, Rae had a cult internet following that was ready to help launch her into the next phase of career. After all, the 24-year-old star already had nearly 90 million followers on TikTok—a sizable test audience.
That launch came with her defining “debut” song, Diet Pepsi, a clear homage to Lana Del Rey‘s Pepsi Cola with a touch of club kid. What more could the young California city dwellers want? The song is bay far Rae’s most-streamed to date, with over 150 million streams on Spotify.
The 2024 track found traction on TikTok—a place that defines music hits these days. Rae landed an editorial photo shoot with creative Petra Collins and sported custom red carpet looks like the lingerie-tutu set by Miss Claire Sullivan she wowed in at the 2024 MTV VMAs.
Anointing her transition: Rae was featured on Charlie XCX’s Brat, the defining album of summer 2024 that claimed both a color and a season.
Rae’s Latest Release
Last week, Raw dropped her newest single, Aquamarine, with a music video.
Rae has found a lane on a crowded road with other pop stars like Chappell Roan, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo—simple, cutesy, with a hint of sleaze. She is a party girl with a touch of innocence that just…works. It’s classic, a bit cliché, but just…fun.
None of this is an accident.
Rae is a child of the internet. She has spent the better part of the last five years cultivating a brand. She embraces celebrity culture, presenting herself to the world exactly as she wants us to see her.
Her effortless appeal is both captivating and surprising—a blend that only someone who has defined—and been defined by—an era only the internet could craft.
Whether her music works for you or not, you can’t deny that Rae has star power and is in the midst of a pop-culture glow-up—and I’m here for it.
This article is for informational purposes only. Trendy Matters has no affiliation with any of the brands or individuals mentioned, and the views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
