In the trenches of the 2020 lockdown where the red carpets were rolled up and award shows looked like Zoom meetings, our eyes were turned to the small screens where TikTok held our attention by the neck. One of the most prominent figures that rose to fame on the platform was Addison Rae. Rae’s presence online today looks very different from where she began though. What had started as viral dances and hype houses has become vintage Moschino and Jean Louis Scherrer, Item Beauty and Addison Rae Fragrance, and horror movie roles and EPs with a Charli XCX feature. As we’ve moved away from 2020, it seems Addison has been distancing herself from her TikTok past and has been pursuing new endeavors in all sorts of avenues within pop culture, but does her TikTok-influencer-start destine her to a career of ambiguity?

Addison’s current professional doings and her influencer status creates an interesting juxtaposition that begs a broader question about the cultural identity that influencers hold. Actors act, singers sing, models model, and influencers… influence? But what are they influencing? Perhaps being an influencer is more of a launch point, one that you can choose to remain at, or one you can leverage. We have seen other influencers attempt to leverage their platform. Bella Poarch pursued a music career, but was never taken quite seriously in that. The D’Amelios had a Kardashian-esque reality show, which again was not taken very seriously (or as serious as you can get with reality TV). So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when I get questioning looks from friends when I earnestly ask if they’ve listened to the new Addison Rae EP. Of course they haven’t, it’s an EP by Addison Rae. Despite the wealth and fame that can be amassed on TikTok, the work of an influencer will always be looked at with weary eyes, their success being illegitimate in the eyes of the public. 

I do believe Addison is leveraging her massive online platform in ways we have not seen since the likes of Emma Chamberlain, but with Chamberlain coming from the YouTube sphere where 15 minute vlogs were the norm and Rae coming from the TikTok realm of 15 second blips, it threatens the opportunity of an established public identity. As our attention spans get increasingly shortened from the influx of brief and digestible media, so does our understanding of the people making that content. Addison’s early content was primarily short TikTok dances. There was no room for her to share her thoughts, passions, goals, or ideas. She didn’t need to, it wasn’t what people were following her for. So now three years, 88 million followers, two movies, and one leaked EP later it seems she is ready to break out of the small screen limits that she’s been bound to. But with Addison’s endeavors being in so many realms of pop culture, it makes her place in it quite ambiguous, almost to the point of nothing at all. She sings a bit, acts a bit, talks a bit, sells a bit, but she has not fully divulged herself into one of those realms. We don’t know what shapes her musical sound, what roles she’s drawn to, or really who she is at all. Influencing within the sphere of TikTok has a clear outlined role, but beyond that it is hardly applicable. Despite her ambiguity, there is one seed that has been planted in terms of her cultural identity that found roots in queer online spaces (as many obscure seeds do). She shared herself listening to Arca and Bjork on Spotify, appeared at red carpets in archive Thierry Mugler, and released a Lady Gaga demo from 2010 on her EP. These instances gave Addison what Pitchfork described as a “smidge of subcultural status” that caught the ears and eyes of pop-music-obsessed-gay-people who spend maybe a little too much time on Twitter. That being said, there is something to say about the history of queer culture and its eye for art and entertainment in anything that is left of the mainstream. Perhaps Addison was lucky enough to be caught in that spotlight as she continues to etch her spot into broader cultural conversations. In order for that to happen though, 2024 must be the year we officially meet Addison Rae.

Reach writer Jackson Simonsmeier at musemediauw@gmail.com. Instagram @jackson.sim