Freddie Baseman
Contributing Writer
On Sept. 16, 2011, the music video for “Friday” was released on YouTube, starring then 13-year-old Rebecca Black. The song went uber viral, and, for a time, it was the most disliked video on the platform. Currently, it has entered a renaissance era as a catchy, meme-able song, but the initial onslaught of hatred and ridicule killed young Black’s interest in music. The project was intended to be a fun activity for Black to do over winter break, though it turned out to be anything but.
In an idiosyncratically similar fashion to “Friday,” Addison Rae’s “Obsessed” dropped at the peak of TikToker fatigue to widespread mockery. It was immediately criticized. The response was, in essence: ‘Who asked?’
It was, admittedly, a generic, self-love-oriented pop song, with an awkward, easy-to-make-fun-of choreography. Other songs on her debut EP, “AR,” had more going for them, such as the opener “I Want It Bad,” an unabashedly fun, shiny (if plasticky) bubblegum pop song, or the track “2 die 4,” which featured veteran hit-maker Charli XCX. None received the same attention as “Obsessed” — maybe because, after the fallout from Rae’s debut single, the EP was shelved and only released last year.
Regardless of the quality of “Obsessed,” people were poised to be unsympathetic to Rae’s debut in the pop world. To promote the song, Rae appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, which reignited a conversation about non-Black creators on Tiktok stealing and going viral for dances made by Black creators. It also sparked discussion of whether ‘talentless’ social media personalities should even be going on shows like “The Tonight Show,” which are generally reserved for ‘real’ celebrities. None of this set Rae up for success.
About seven months after “AR,” Addison Rae rebranded: she was featured on the remix of Charli XCX’s “Von dutch” with producer A. G. Cook (echoing their duo/collaboration on “2 die 4”), then she released “Diet Pepsi,” her debut single under Columbia Records.
Rae’s rebranding wasn’t a revolutionary overhaul but rather an extension of budding ideas and traits in her persona that have flown under the radar. These traits are put on full display in a Vogue profile of Rae released before “AR.” In the interview, Rae reflects on the splash “Obsessed” made with critics and general audiences. She tells Vogue Living editor and interviewer Liam Hess, “I was 19, you know? It kind of crushed me for some time. I started feeling a lot of self-doubt, and those big dreams that I was pursuing, I just thought, ‘Maybe I’m not good enough to do this.’”
Her shifting musical direction, from mainstream bubblegum pop to alternative-ish singles evocative of Lana Del Rey or Britney Spears, seems more natural (and admittedly less cynical) after listening to Rae’s soundscape, which is heavy on SOPHIE and Arca, hyper-pop artists and producers.
The Vogue interview also elaborates on Rae being effectively cosigned by Charli XCX, who responded to Hess’ request for comment by writing, “If I ever get married, I would definitely ask Addison Rae to be my wedding DJ.” For those who, like myself, are tuned into the pop music world more than they should be, this comment is promising, if puzzling. Charli XCX is a staple of off-beat pop music, having had many mainstream hits without ever becoming a mononymic pop megastar. Her comments don’t stop at Rae’s music taste, either, relaying to Hess: “[Rae] was like no one I’d ever met really. Not jaded. Not faking. Not uncomfortable. Not trying to be anything other than herself.”
The “Von dutch” remix turned a few heads, especially with Rae’s ad-libbed scream — but the song that truly marked Rae’s departure from her debut era was August’s “Diet Pepsi,” her first song to debut on the “Billboard Hot 100.” “Diet Pepsi” evokes Lana Del Rey, with lush, silky alt-pop production.
What solidified the rise — or return — of Addison Rae, for me, was “Aquamarine” and its subsequent “Arcamarine” remix. The production is siren-esque and almost underwater; it’s dreamy and sensual without taking itself too seriously. Rae intones, “The world is my oyster / Baby come touch the pearl,” diving back into luxurious, breathy vocals. Throughout, Rae evokes Spears’s ‘trance-y’ performance on “In the Zone,” especially with the track “Breathe on Me.”
It’s unclear where Addison Rae is going after the success of “Diet Pepsi” and “Aquamarine.” As is the case with Rebecca Black, she seems to be just now finding her pop niche, cultivating an audience of hyperpop fans and those tuned in to pop as a cultural phenomena — with stars as characters, who grow musically and narratively through invention and reinvention. Personally? I think we should take her seriously. More of us should embrace the unconventional rise of pop’s stars, even — especially — if that rise is kitschy or marred with tack.