Addison Rae started off as a TikTok dancer: silly trends, lips syncs, any dance that was around she did.
For a while she was part of what we would call the HypeHouse, a group of TikTok dancers who would all stay in the same house to make popular media content. Over the years she gained more than 80 million followers. Addison’s music career started off in 2021 with her first single “Obsessed,” but she was initially criticized for her music. However, recently gained fame around 2025 due to hit single “Diet Pepsi,” her album “Addison,” and collabs with Charlie XCX.
Esther Mireles (11) is one among few “Sunraes” at Liberty. Mireles specifies that she admires Addison for her level of inspiration, and recognizes her rise from TikTok dances, to onstage choreography, noting the success of her most recent set at Coachella, and labeling her surprise as a “major comeback.” Mireles also states, “It makes me feel like dancing when I hear her music.” What Addison is bringing to the table is something that the pop industry hasn’t got a lot of in a while, with electronic sounds, fast and upbeat 2000’s inspired melodies, and a danceable sound. It is no mystery how Addison is being re-recognized.
Some press seem to consider her revival as a fully planned out marketing strategy for the all-new her. This began when she was wiped from social media, specifically around the start of 2023, people no longer saw much of Addison–giving her the perfect blank page to begin curating a deliberate all new image, seeming to bounce off of Charli XCX’s “Brat Summer,” even collabing with Charli. Addison brought hyperfemininity with a “campy” aesthetic. Her team then reinforced her new image with marketing that was not to please everyone, but to target a more niche audience with what Addison wears, her artistic music videos, social media posts, and public appearances. This polar shift to an iconic pop start persona set the precedent for everyone to get to know the new Addison Rae.
Lucia Cadice (11) considers herself a super fan of Addison Rae. Cadice claims that the pop star is bringing back the exact vibe that we’ve all been waiting for: the Y2K aesthetic, Cadice follows by relating Addison to Britney Spears. A deeper dive would show correlation in their performance styles, and aesthetics. Rae has also paid tribute to Spears as her “blueprint.” Cadice states her desire to have been at Coachella to see Rae’s performance, but expressed her fear of traveling from home, along with the want to not be exhausted from all the walking. Although she wasn’t able to be at the festival, she watched her performance online, and was so happy to see how beautiful Addison Rae had performed, believing the choreography to be perfect.
Addison recognizes her own growth constantly as well as appreciates her supporters for how far along they’ve helped her come. A big part of the specific aesthetic that Addison is bringing to the table is fearlessness, confidence, and lack of care for what anyone has to say. Again, bouncing off of Charli XCX’s recent “bratty” persona. She quickly rose to this subset and despite a lot of negative feedback on her music, fashion, and aesthetic, keeps advancing in her career blowing past what her haters have to offer for her. Even so, Addison’s set at Coachella 2026 ended with a thankful address to all of her fans, and a provocative non-quoatable message to all her haters. It is important that she can show a backbone, because it is not only a big part of the person she has become, but also it is vital to a new face in the pop industry.
