the unstoppable addison rae
lil shawty the badde$t
You are cordially invited to this weekās brew of High Tea, your dispatch of š„ internet culture served piping hot. This week: we revisit the continued media takeover of TikTok it girl Addison Rae, from beauty to boardroom to Billboard.
Drink up! šøāļø
p.s. if youāre not a paid subscriber, hereās what you missed from this weekās Bucks Fizz: our Thursday dispatch covering the best of TikTokās unsigned and emerging talent.
š„ YUNGBLUD, Megan Thee *Savage* & Peter McPoland
what weāve been sipping on:
No, I donāt think you understand, weāre OBSESSED. Unless youāve been living under a large boulder the size of a small boulder, TikTokās finest, aka bad bleep Addison Rae stunned the world this week with a surprise drop of her debut single āObsessedā and a music video that would have Doja Cat quaking in her Chanel boots. But donāt just take our word for it:Ā
So, why are we so gassed?
We devoted a dispatch to Addison back in July 2020 (šøāļølong time readers we šyou!), pre-empting her media domination and itās only taken her *checks notes* 8 whole months to drop a beauty line, drop a single...and (fingers crossed) Bryce Hall.Ā
Just in case youād forgotten š, we said:
āThis TikTok powerhouse isnāt a social empire waiting to happen, sheās *been* making those money moves while we watch, in real time, as she dances her way into the celebrity canon. Rest assured, sheās here to stay.ā
Baddie Adiās numbers speak for themselves:
TikTok followers š 78.4 millionĀ
Instagram followers š 36.7 millionĀ
YouTube subscribers š 4.7 millionĀ
Spotify streams š 1.1 million (watch this space)
Her secret sauce? Addison has kept herself firmly top of mind in the zeitgeist, capitalizing on every internet moment since joining TikTok in July 2019. Now sheās cashing out her hard earned social coin in more ways than one ā and weāre not talking Cameo, NewNew or PearPop monetization. Addison Rae was crowned Forbesā Highest Earning TikToker in 2020 for good reason folks. Our bad bleep earned a cool estimated $5M USD last year and looking at how 2021 is stacking up so far, weāre betting sheās about to extend that well into double digits Ms. Letās dive in:
Enter the Addison Rae empire: From TikTok to mic drop
šļø Mama Knows Best with Sheri Nicole. Dropping days after our first Addison dispatch, our bad bleep and her mama, Sheri (aka š§æšš§æ) signed an exclusive partnership deal with Spotify, for a tell-all poddy. Who else has an exclusive with Spotify? Well, HRH Harry and Meghan ofc ā rubbing shoulders with royaltie$.Ā
š Item Beauty. A mere month later Addison added two new title strings to her bow: Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Item Beauty. A beauty line so fresh, so clean, and so close to Gen Z hearts, fans have been lapping up the goods anywhere they can.Ā Ā
š¦ American Eagle. Shortly after announcing Item Beauty, Addison also partnered with American Eagle as the new face of American Eagle's #AExME Back to School campaign. The stats are out: Rae generated $4.26 million in Media Impact Value for American Eagle over a six-month period. But go off and say that influencer marketing is dead šøāļø
š¬ Heās All That. Nah, sheās all that. In September last year Addison announced her acting debut in a remake of the 90s teen movie Sheās All That. And sheās bringing someone else in for the ride. Enter: Kourtney Kardashian, Addisonās pal, who will also star in the upcoming Netflix movie, who picked up the rights for north of $20M š. Addison really said: dw sis, Bible, Iāve got u. TG Kourtney has friends in high places.Ā
š Obsessed. The irony wasnāt totally lost on us that Addisonās first viral moment on TikTok happened when Mariah Carey found the video of Addison and her mom Sheri dancing to her own song āObsessedā and ālikedā it. Thereās some deep foreshadowing here tea drinkers if ever we saw it. Not to mention Addisonās debut is produced by superstar team Benny Blanco, Blake Slatkin and Ryan McMahon. āObsessedā was unleashed on the world on Thursday and our gal has already garnered 7.2M views on YouTube for the music vid which we INSIST you watch.Ā
Why music? Why now?Ā
Bad bleep alert: an excerpt of singles named after our TikTok š
2020 was all about āI need a bad bitch, Addison Raeā, a term coined by The Kid LAROI following the release of his single āAddison Raeā, just as the world went into lockdown. Since then, Addison has been name checked in more songs than you can shake a stick at, most recently by Lil Yachty in āE-ERā:Ā
āI want Addison Rae to become my doctor and check on my problemsāĀ
It girl doesnāt even begin to cover it.Ā
In 2021, however, Addison said: lemme get a piece of that industry pie. After dipping her toe into the entertainment biz across the poddy, TikTok, YouTube and err...literally Hollywood, are we really that surprised that Addisonās final form is that of the humble TikTok musician?Ā
Letās set the scene. If 2020 belonged to TikTok, it was also the environment in which the ~TikTok musician~ began to blur the line between industry ingenue and certified rising star. Following the phenomenal success of āSavageā by Megan Thee Stallion, āSay Soā by Doja Cat and āLottery (Renegade)ā by K CAMP, TikTok has established itself as the unrivalled domain for career-defining bangers.Ā
The relationship between influential TikTok creators and the success of a new release is undeniable: Zoi Lermaās choreography for BENEEās āSupalonelyā, Haley Sharpe for āSay Soā and Keara Wilsonās āSavageā. Cheers, TikTok teens, for the lunch money...and millions upon millions of streams. In an official capacity, look no further than the DāAmelios, TikTokās first family, and their partnership with Epic Records (a subsidiary of Sony), paid to promote the archive.Ā
Now, weāre seeing more and more creators sidestep into the musical spotlight with debut singles on a scale of one hit wonder to popstar in the making, from the likes of Hype House member LILHUDDY, Nessa Barrett, jxdn, Dixie DāAmelio and Tayler Holder. But hereās where Addison hits different, releasing āObsessedā independently via Kasher Hindlinās Sandlot Records.Ā
āA lot of people assume that just because of TikTok, I get things handed to me. By doing it this [independently], it feels so much more organic.ā ā Addison Rae, Rolling Stone
Regardless of the fine print around fifteen minutes of fame and PR stunt speculation, if thereās one thing we do know for sure itās that Addison is redefining the relationship between TikTok tastemaker and industry troublemaker ā seemingly overnight. Is there anything this gal canāt do? Well...you already know the answer. Ā šøāļø
kettleās on: ones to watch
Crossed the one year mark! We canāt believe this is the case, but the dates do not lie. Yesterday Nintendo Switchās Animal Crossing: New Horizons celebrated its one year anniversary. Youāll remember when we covered its launch in our April dispatch, but now we celebrate Animal Crossing as a quarantine staple, providing comfort and familiarity in times of unease and unpredictability over the past year. Some highlights of this year include: AOC making house calls, Fashion brands creating in-game garments and Biden launching his New Horizons political campaign.
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Okay, you made it. Now you can go back to waiting for the first ever performance of āObsessedā onĀ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon incoming Friday, March 26th.
ttyl,