TikTok Star and formerly-accused-MAGA-supporter Addison Rae has completely rebranded herself away from the alt-right and into alt-pop. It all began with her iconic feature on Charli XCX’s Von Dutch remix, and now her newest single High Fashion has cemented Rae’s place in the pop industry.

With her underwhelming first attempt at becoming a pop icon with the EP AR, which included the infamous 2 die 4, it seemed her rise to stardom would flop as fast as the other TikTok stars that attempted to break into the music industry. Rae, against all odds, beat this curse with her release of Diet Pepsi in 2024. When it initially came out, I had absolutely no interest in giving it a chance, but as the buzz around her grew louder, with the subsequent release of Aquamarine, I succumbed to my FOMO and gave the two songs a listen. I was immediately hooked, and converted into an Addison Rae apologist. It is certainly not possible for the creator of Aquamarine to be a Trump supporter—and I stand by that!

Her music reminds me of 2010s pop, resembling Britney Spears songs of that decade and Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die combined. It is how pop sounded post-2008 financial crisis—which, in my opinion, was peak pop music—but revamped for a post-Covid-19 economic crisis. Her masterful combination of iconic 2010 artists clearly shows that she understands the essence of pop music. Because of this, her music feels so familiar yet entirely her own. 

Sonically, High Fashion begins comparatively subdued, a bit slower than her previous singles, but she maintains her breathy, soft and intimate vocals. This at first threw me off, but as it kept going, I was assured that its shake-ass-ability was not lesser than her other singles. The chorus is incredibly catchy. Like nameless pop songs I listened to in my adolescence, High Fashion pleasantly creeps up in the back of my mind constantly, begging to be sung off-key.

Just like her lyrics, Rae’s music video is creative, pleasing to the senses yet doesn’t hide its message behind subtle symbolism. However, the scene in the large room covered in “powdered sugar”—which to me looked more like fake snow—was not very visually pleasing. While Rae’s use of cool colour grading on top of warm coloured elements in the music video is worthy of praise —i.e. her red lipstick, her red shoes, the fire in the field and her pink walk-in closet—that scene did not maintain that balance. Rather, it felt washed out and flat. Additionally, the coke imagery was a bit too on the nose, the song is called High Fashion and one of the repeated lines is “I don’t need your drugs” so I don’t really see the point in hammering it home with its over-the-top presence.

Although I don't think High Fashion surpasses the iconicness of Aquamarine and its music video, it’s definitely another successful Addison Rae single that has made it into my pop playlist.