TikTok star Addison Rae has become a pop music powerhouse.

Few names have a better idea of how internet fame became mainstream stardom than Addison Rae.
Rae, who started out as a college dropout posting dance videos, is now one of the most discussed entertainers from the social media generation and now has a career of music, film and fashion.

The early life and the move to fame.

Rae was born on October 6, 2000 in Lafayette, Louisiana and started dancing competitively at age 6, traveling throughout the United States to compete in various dance shows. A few years she enrolled in Louisiana State University for a short time to get her degree in broadcast journalism, and aspired to become a sports broadcaster. But that all changed when she found TikTok in July 2019. In just a few months, her dance videos garnered more than a million followers and she decided to put her college career aside to make Los Angeles her new home and start creating content full-time.

Her journey up the platform was a rocket fly. For a short while, she was part of the TikTok collective, The Hype House, and signed with talent agency WME, making her a name that was instantly known. Nowadays, she has tens of millions of followers on her social media pages.

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Rae didn't limit herself to short form video for very long. She made her acting debut in 2021 as Padgett in the Netflix film He's All That, which is based on the teen film She's All That from the 1990's and one of the most streamed films on the platform that week. She was to follow this up by starring as an actress in the 2023 slasher film, Thanksgiving and later got the chance to star as an actress in the Netflix true crime anthology series, Monster: The Ed Gein Story.

But, where Rae has arguably left her greatest mark is music. In 2021, she released her first single “Obsessed” while her EP, “AR,” was released in 2023. It was her 2024 signing with Columbia Records that changed it all, however. Her single "Diet Pepsi" was a real hit and went platinum selling, and her single made it onto the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. It led to her debut studio album, Addison, which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and was greeted with strong critical reviews in June of 2025.

Things continued to roll. She started touring as the lead singer for a Europe, North America, and Australia headlining tour, debuted at Coachella and was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 68th Grammy Awards. At the end of 2025 she was declared the best of the year artist by The Guardian and her album appeared in several best of 2025 lists.

Reinventing Her Sound and Image

A lot of Rae's musical development has been about intentional reinvention. During this period she was criticized for her varying styles of music, moving from her previous more hesitant genre of music to synth-pop and electropop, which has given her a few comparisons from critics including Britney Spears, and also taking a few influences from Charli XCX to FKA Twigs. Her album cover and style reference to the Y2K icons, while her music is inspired by the era.

Beyond Entertainment

Rae's inspiration is also found in fashion and business. She has also fronted campaigns for brands such as L'Oréal, Lululemon and YSL Beauty, and launched her own beauty and fragrance collections, and has collaborated with Lucky Brand on style inspired denim. In addition to her advocacy work, she has voiced her opinions on various causes, including trans rights and reproductive healthcare access, and has taken a stance on political issues, such as endorsing Kamala Harris for the election of 2024.

What's Next

Addison Rae's career is in full swing, with plans to make her mark in the ensemble comedy Animal Friends, which features Ryan Reynolds and Aubrey Plaza, and with ongoing success in the music industry. Her tale is emblematic of the newfound sensibilities of pop stardom in the modern era — a phenomenon in which a viral moment captured by a camera on a phone can vault a personality onto the music charts, film sets, the magazine pages, and beyond.