The genius of Addison Rae’s rebrand
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Addison Rae takes over 2024 with nearly 70 million streams for her new single, “Diet Pepsi.”
To the veterans of TikTok who were on the app during the height of COVID-19, the name “Addison Rae” should be familiar. Like her influencer counterparts, such as Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Addison Rae went viral for dancing in her living room and possessing the simultaneous look of conventional beauty and the sweet “girl next door” appearance. Due to viewers being stuck at home during this time, they related to and enjoyed watching these girls do silly dances from their bedrooms, and the same logic can be applied to why people roll their eyes when they see this same content today.
Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae accumulated a wealth of followers quickly, and it is apparent—yet understandable—that they did not know what to do with it. For Addison, she seemed keen on staying in the spotlight, for better or worse. Between her membership in the
“Hype House,” a collaborative content-creation house of popular TikTok personnel, her role in the notorious Netflix original He’s All That (2021), and her random appearance in Keeping Up With the Kardashians (2007- ), it was clear to many that the girl was a passionless act, desperate to keep their attention. As eloquently said by content creator Ricky Reardon, however, in his analysis of Addison Rae, “Stop trying to make people pay attention. Start making things worth paying attention to.”
This summer has proven a lot about the power of “creating a world” on an artist's success. In his marketing analysis, Ricky Reardon points out how Charli XCX created an aesthetic and music release that threw listeners into the world of sweaty, messy EDM club life. Moreover, when I think of Sabrina Carpenter, I’m thrown into a world of flirtatiousness and hyper-femininity. In addition to “creating a world,” an artist needs to target themselves to a niche demographic; my father is not going to relate to the aesthetic of Charli XCX—but college girls in a party school definitely will. Charli D’Amelio and Addison’s pitfall was that they appeared everywhere (yes, I mean everywhere) to gain a wide audience of approval. Luckily, it seems Rae is enlightened on the strengths of aesthetics and strict target markets, something Charli D’Amelio is not.
In 2023, Rae archived her Instagram and TikTok posts indicative of her former online presence. I feel that this was a symbolic way of Rae telling her audience that she has changed, and also allowed her to combat the negative effects felt from her past over-exposure; posting less will now cause people to wonder about her, not pray to a higher being that she would be off their screens.
As for what she started to post, I noticed a mixture of mysterious, vintage black-and-white aesthetics and the 2010s Tumblr vibe. Both give the audience a sense of nostalgia for two different time periods that were formative for many of her viewers.
While it is no secret that artist Lana Del Rey inspires the mysterious vintage aspect, ignoring Charli XCX’s involvement with Rae’s rebrand would be negligent. While the revered singer was featured on a song in Addison’s new album, AR (2023), it was the recent single they made together, “Von. dutch a.g. Cook remix,” that had people reconsidering the former laughing-stock of TikTok. The behind-the-scenes of the song was filmed and posted online recently, revealing that Addison Rae improvised a scream for the track (aka, the portion of the song that went viral on TikTok). This clip showed millions of people that Rae was not monotonously doing projects to gain exposure—she had passion and taste.
My personal favorite aspect of Rae’s rebrand was the recent release of her new song, “Diet Pepsi.” It may not be vocally challenging, but Addison Rae is not Chappell Roan, nor is she trying to be. This time, she knows the audience she built based on her recent posts: fans of Lana Del Rey and Charli XCX and is attempting to appeal to them. Like songs from Brat (2024), Charli XCX’s recent album, “Diet Pepsi” is a hyperpop earworm. The song’s music video also has the vintage-Americana aesthetic—put on the modern-day map by Lana Del Rey. This song has been in my head for the past month, and I recommend you check it out.
Due to “Diet Pepsi” having almost 70 million streams on Spotify, it is safe to say that Rae’s new attempt at making music and staying in the spotlight is highly successful. I’m excited to see what she has in store and am intrigued to see the final form of her brand in the upcoming year.