In Defense of Addison Rae

In the late summer of 2024, I heard about five seconds of “Diet Pepsi” and immediately opened Spotify to prove that what I’d just heard was real. My brain’s instinctual reaction was to think “There’s no way. Addison Rae wouldn’t make this.” 2 minutes and 49 seconds later, I knew how wrong I’d been; the messiah of pop music was here, and her name was Addison Rae.

Despite how absurd that statement sounds, I’m only partially joking. While I would not laud Addison as the definitive pop star of this generation, in my opinion, she is undoubtedly among the upper echelon of today’s pop girls. It is also quite often that I encounter criticisms of her that feel rather unjust, and most of the time, intentionally ignorant of her many unique strengths as an artist.

The overarching “criticism” I see of Addison, that can be counterargued in many ways, is that she used to be a TikTok star, which inherently eradicates her ability to be a serious artist. Music fanatics are not very disposed to lend credibility to someone who once belonged to the Hype House, which, I won’t lie, is not an entirely unfair instinct to have. However, I think the refusal to give her a fair shot to be good at making music is inherently close-minded and, truthfully, elitist. I find it daft to persistently believe that someone earning money and success from doing cringey dances on the internet and starring in flop Netflix movies automatically means that they lack depth and are untalented in all other facets of their life. Anyone can make TikToks, and if they’re making lots of money off of it, why shouldn’t they? It doesn’t mean that in other sectors of her life, she is devoid of taste. Addison has made it clear that her musical interests denote more depth than people give her credit for. Ever since people found Arca on her Spotify playlists circa 2023, I think it’s been clear that there’s more to this girl than dancing videos and a ditzy persona.

Addison’s desire to distance herself from her past image is a dominant theme throughout her debut album. On “In the Rain” she says, “Walk in the room, my high heels on, I strike a pose. Young, dumb, and cute, nothing to lose. And now the past is someone that I have to answer for, I got a whole new point of view. Misunderstood but I’m not gonna sweat it.” She’s basically saying, “Am I cursed to never be taken seriously in anything I do all because I took the opportunities that were given to me to be successful when I was younger?” Additionally, on “Fame is a Gun,” she says “It never was enough, I always wanted more. Fame is a gun and I point it blind.” Throughout these songs, it becomes very clear that Addison wants to be good. She wants to be respected. In turn, she is determined to create something that would earn her this acclaim, but the very thing she wanted to distance herself from is the thing holding her down.

In a similar vein, the music she makes speaks very clearly to her being a woman of taste and culture, especially within the realm of pop music specifically. I find it genuinely hard to believe that anyone who goes in to listen to her debut album with a true lack of bias would walk away and think “That’s not good pop music.” When I listen to it, I hear influences from many different pop icons: Lana Del Rey in “Diet Pepsi” and “Summer Forever”, Charli XCX (who is also a frequent collaborator and champion of Addison’s work) in “New York”, Sky Ferreira and Madonna in “In the Rain” and “Headphones On”, and Britney Spears in ‘Money Is Everything.’ And yet, even when you listen to these songs, it doesn’t feel like a knockoff version of any of these artists. You can tell she took aspects she loves from these legendary figures of pop music and utilized them all to create her own kind of pop.

Even beyond just sonic influences, her catalog as a whole is a goldmine for niche references to the history and lore of pop. In ‘High Fashion’s’ video, Addison pays homage to the woman who seems to be her biggest inspiration, the legendary Britney Spears. A bottle of “Fantasy,” Britney’s perfume, can be seen in the background of one of the video’s sets, and Addison even dons the iconic crystal-embellished bra that Britney wore on her 2001 “Dream Within a Dream” tour. In ‘Money Is Everything,’ Madonna, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and Marilyn Monroe are all name-dropped. ‘Headphones On’s’ music video comes off as one big tribute to Bjork. This woman is a student of pop culture.

In fact, far removed from the criticism of her merely copying other pop artists, I think she has found and successfully executed a very fresh and unique sound for the pop landscape. This is spearheaded by the fact that her album was entirely produced by women, an utter anomaly for a big pop artist. Many artists these days seem to rotate between the same big-name producers: Max Martin, Jack Antonoff, Shellback, Dan Nigro, etc. The result is music coming from many different sources that sometimes sounds like it could all be from the same source. I’m not saying that all artists that work with these producers create music that sounds identical to each other, but I do think the lack of out-of-the-box selections for producers starts to feel slightly stale after a while. In comparison, Addison’s decision to put producers that do not typically get leading roles for entire projects at the forefront of her album introduced a novel and very distinctly “Addison” sound to today’s pop scene.

It has to be said that Addison is by no means a generational talent in the lanes of singing and songwriting. But I don’t think that’s actually a requirement to be a pop star. In my opinion, the most important quality to possess to be a pop star is in the name: star-power. From her carefree, uncontained dancing in her music videos to her high-energy stage presence, Addison has that in spades. Of course, those who get it get it. There is a strong and vocal legion of people who see Addison’s skill and dedication to being a pop star. It’s not as though she’s universally dismissed. However, I firmly believe that if she had never been on TikTok, Addison would be heralded as the emerging pop icon that she is by the wider public, not just the girls and the gays. Same as most established pop artists, she has displayed a strong drive to be a star and give the people something unique and fun to digest. I don’t see why she should be discredited all because of how she got her start.

Strike Out,

Writer: Annaliese Long

Editor: Alexia Cretoiu

Graphic Designer:

Tallahassee

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