The TikTok star is excelling in her new venture as a popstar
BY LARA IQBAL GILLING, IMAGE ALBUM COVER
Addison Rae’s debut album Addison sets the tone for a dreamy summer of escapism. A distinct departure from her unremarkable EP which featured four generic pop songs, this project feels personal.
Despite 28m views on the video for her first ever single, Obsessed, Rae’s previous music failed to garner the dedicated fanbase that her new album has inspired. Many of those admirers are queer, which Rae said “means everything”, because she’s always been drawn to LGBTQIA+ people. It shows – her background dancers of all genders embody camp femininity, and Rae caused a stir when she wore a “Protect The Dolls” t-shirt to Coachella this year.
Her latest music video features trans TikTok heartthrob and New York City line cook Gio, better known as Giovanni’s Kitchen. He became popular by filming what he eats for lunch, although people were more interested in his face. He and Rae loll around a ferry cabin for the first song on her album, Times Like These.
In her track New York, she repeats the lines “Love New York”, “feel so free”, “it’s my religion”.The lyrics are simple, even ungrammatical at times (who says “cross gold chain”?), but that gives her an air of unpretentious sincerity. No one thinks of Rae as a poet, but it’s hard to deny she’s got her finger on the pulse. She certainly knows her audience: short songs – one only 48 seconds – and dance-heavy music videos feel only a stone’s throw away from her TikTok origins. Authenticity is a word that’s been wrung dry, but Rae has managed to squeeze out a few more drops.
The album’s second track, Diet Pepsi, was released last August. It feels like a playful point to Britney Spears, who was sponsored by Pepsi until 2004. Rae’s show at The Box in London on 10 June could’ve been pulled from Spears’s 2007 M+M tour – lingerie, synchronised choreography and a mic stuck to the face. Even Addison’s cover art feels very early 2000s.
Just like Spears’s music, Rae’s album sounds like recession pop. She screams “I’m the richest girl in the world!” at the end of “Money Is Everything”, an upbeat song which feels more like manifestation than real life. At a time where we are pushing back on out-of-touch celebrities and embracing partying, Rae parts the sea of famous faces with a fresh look – often appearing barefaced in interviews – and nostalgic sound.
Perhaps because it’s not very sonically diverse, the entire album feels like something you’ve heard before, in a comforting way. A strong bassline thumps underneath almost every song, and the mix of whispered adlibs, copious reverb and falsetto gives it an effortlessly sexy feel. Addison was co-produced by Elvira Anderfjärd, who worked on Tove Lo’s hit song “Sadder Badder Cooler” and Luka Kloser, who is known for his synth-pop style.
It’s the kind of music you listen to in front of the mirror, pretending to be a popstar in front of an adoring crowd. Rae has truly cracked the code on popularity: aspirational but relatable.
She calls the album “A deep desperation and desire to understand myself”. It certainly reveals a never-before-seen insight into Rae’s flaws and desires, which are jealousy and fame, respectively. “I compare my life to the new it girl,” she sings in Headphones On, the album’s final track. Who hasn’t felt depressed after cyber-stalking Iris Law or Bella Hadid?
The song’s accompanying video shows Rae riding a shaggy white horse on the beach. When the music ends, we see that the horse was in fact a plastic coin-slot pony outside the supermarket. This is a clarification of the sentiment that bubbles underneath throughout: we listen to escape.
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