‘Obsessed’ with Addison Rae

2019 marked the peak in the internet’s obsession with TikTok’s dancing influencers. Internet personalities like Charli D’Amelio and members of the Hype House used their conventional attractiveness and somewhat lackluster charisma to amass millions of followers. 

Among these influencers was Addison Rae, a sweet southern girl who won over primarily younger audiences with her dancing and lip-syncing videos. Addison maintained a carefully curated All-American and family-friendly image on social media for years. 

Until recently, Addison’s sweet and slightly uninspired approach to social media worked to keep her in the limelight. The internet’s attention span moves quickly though, and once very popular TikTok influencers noticed their viewership was on the decline, many of them scrambled to find new avenues of content to remain relevant. 

Addison has strayed from her TikTok dancer roots and has donned an edgier ‘cool-girl’ persona that has caught the attention of a new, more mature audience. Ditching the repetitive dances, Addison began posting more avant-garde and fashion-forward content. This shift has caused many of her new followers to declare her social media’s newest ‘IT-girl.’

On top of becoming more involved in the fashion industry, Addison Rae debuted her music career with her new EP, “AR.” Usually, when a well-known influencer releases music, listeners write it off as generic and poorly made. Addison’s catchy EP, though, was very well received by the public and gained over 2.3 million streams. 

Addison takes a lot of inspiration from pop stars in the early 2000s. Her EP is the epitome of good, mindless pop music: it’s fun and girly, and raunchier than what most expected from Rae. She even featured Charli XCX, a well-known pop star, on her track, “2 Die 4.” The support on her new album has garnered her new title of a pop princess. 

Addison Rae’s shift from mainstream TikTok content to her cooler, more unique image was a career-saving choice that has secured her popularity with a more niche following for years to come. 

Karson Green