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Hello everyone!! Welcome back to this week's Earworm blog post! Today I wanted to talk about an artist who is starting to see success outside of the field she started in. If you've been keeping up with pop music in the last few months, you might have seen her name pop up here and there and say, "Since when did she make music?". Addison Rae has made a lot of changes to her public persona and has completely switched gears from being a full-fledged TikTok influencer to becoming a contender for the next big pop star of our generation. Because of the complete turnaround she's made, she's made for an interesting topic for a blog post, so that's what we are gonna focus on today!
Taking The Leap
Addison Rae, up until just a few months ago, was known by most as just some TikToker who got famous for doing trendy dances on the app. A lot of people (me included, admittedly) just dismissed her and put her in the group of the Charlie and Dixie D'Amelio's of the world. Even though I and many others didn't find these TikTok personalities very interesting, she eventually built up a really big fanbase on the app that quickly led her to becoming one of the most well-known influencers on the internet. On a few occasions, Addison expressed her passion for music and even decided to release her first single, "Obsessed," in 2021. The song was very quickly (and brutally) picked apart by the general public and critics. Even some of her fans were suggesting her to just stick with the TikTok dances. To be fair, it's a pretty bland and generic pop song to the point where it's almost laughable (sorry, not sorry). Some of her music from her scrapped debut album ended up leaking online later on, with some people praising it for being 'camp' and fun. Seeing the opportunity, she decided to release a 5-track EP called "AR" that included some of those leaked songs in addition to "Obsessed". She even got Charli XCX to feature on her song "2 die 4". We now know that Charli helped Addison, along with a few other writers, on her debut album, even if it ended up in the can. Whether she knew it or not, she was actually building the foundation of a newfound success that would capture the general public's attention.
Pop Princess?
As I just mentioned, Addison found herself working in the studio with pop legend Charli XCX, who just recently got an unprecedented amount of success from "BRAT" and its remix album (you can find my review of the remix album here if you're interested!) You could attribute some of Addison's recent success to Charli because she decided to have Addison feature on the "Von Dutch" remix with A.G. Cook. Not only was the song good, but it painted Addison in a light that most people had never seen before and promoted her to Charli's fanbase, which was growing rapidly. While the vibe of "AR" was more quirky and fun, this remix was channeling a part of her that was adjacent to the brat aesthetic that Charli was cooking up. Eventually, the remix started getting traction on TikTok (full-circle moment, I guess) because of Addison's scream in the second half of the song because many people saw the vision behind it. After this song, a lot of people started to get behind Addison's artistic vision as a whole. While the "Von Dutch" remix did wonders for putting her back on the map, most people weren't convinced due to her past as a TikTok star, and people didn't forget about that one cheesy song she put out before. To that, Addison's response was "Diet Pepsi", her first solo release since her debut EP. This song was an infection. You heard it once, and no matter what you thought of it on the first listen, you would soon find yourself giving the song another try. After that, it was only a matter of time until the song ended up on your playlist. "Diet Pepsi" was easily one of my favorite pop songs from last year, and for good reason. It's hard to even explain why I enjoy the song so much, it's kind of beyond words. It's an 'if you get it, then you get it' type of song, which could be said about her future single releases as well. It's like a weird amalgamation of Lana Del Rey from her "Born To Die" era and is slightly reminiscent of Brittney Spears too. Despite that, it doesn't feel like a cheap copy of what pop-icons of the past were doing, it still feels like something fresh and new. And the world took notice, as the song is already sitting at 300 million streams on Spotify alone, despite being released only 5 months ago (as of writing this). Many were starting to warm up to Addison after the release of this song and were waiting to see what she was going to do next.
She's Got High Fashion
Following the success of "Diet Pepsi", Addison didn't want to let the hype go to waste. So after only two months, she released another single called "Aquamarine", which I actually gave a small review for in my October 2024 song recap. While many people were praising the song, it didn't quite grab people's attention in the same way that "Diet Pepsi" did. It's an interesting song with a unique production style that many find promising (me included), but it just didn't stick the same way. The song isn't bad by any means, and it actually has a small cult following that argues it's actually her best song. I don't personally agree with that, but I think the differing opinions just come from differences in music taste. Even though it wasn't performing at the same level as its predecessor, to say that it's flopping would be completely wrong. It's already surpassed most of the songs from her debut EP in terms of Spotify streams, which is impressive given the song was only released in October of last year. With all of this in mind, Addison went back into the shadows for a bit in order to figure out her next move. Until just recently, she started dropping snippets of a new song called "High Fashion", which was proving to be promising based on the clips. It just came out about a week ago as of writing this, and I can confirm that we've got another hit on our hands. Unfortunately, the song hasn't taken off in popularity just yet. It's currently sitting at about 6 million streams and seems to be declining in streams slightly as the days go on. Only time will tell, though. Even then, the song itself is definitely good. Almost as good as "Diet Pepsi"- but just barely falling short. I'm addicted to the layered synths in the chorus, they're like a punch in the face that keeps you coming back over and over again. To be honest, the chorus, bridge, and outro are kind of carrying the whole song, but that's okay cause it's a bop regardless. Maybe it will start getting the appreciation it deserves if someone makes a viral edit with the song, I don't know.
Wrapping Up
All of this being said, I can confidently say that I've gone from not giving Addison the time of day to actually being a fan of hers (I never thought I'd see the day when I call myself an Addison Rae fan). I think Addison is ready to leave her old persona behind and show us new parts of herself. And if that's what she's going to do, then we might as well leave her old persona behind as well and move forward with her. It's hard to say whether or not she will be able to capture the mainstream again like she did for "Diet Pepsi", but I guess we will have to wait and see. It also sounds like she's gearing up to release her debut album sometime soon, but it's uncertain whether or not we will get to hear it in 2025. Her recent music has yet to disappoint, so I'm gonna hope that whatever she does next is just as good. With that, I don't have anything else to add, so thank you for reading this week's post! I hope you have a good rest of your week!
Earworm ~-~-~o
Thanks for reading!
-Joey :)
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