Addison Rae, A TikTok Sensation
With over 88 million followers and 5.8 billion likes on TikTok, Addison Rae embodies the definition of an American social media personality and celebrity. She is a 22-year-old TikToker who first started posting content on TikTok back in July 2019, where her dance videos to trending songs rose in popularity. She has steadily grown in fame since, holding the record for the most followers on TikTok in 2021, and is currently the fourth most-followed individual on the platform. Before her rise to fame, Addison briefly attended Louisiana State University before dropping out and deciding to move to Los Angeles to pursue her Tiktok career further (National Today, 2022). Since then, she has signed with talent agency WME, launched her own cosmetics line, signed a deal with Netflix, and signed various endorsement deals with brands such as Reebok, Hollister, and American Eagle (National Today, 2022).
Addison Rae’s TikTok consists of her sharing dances to trending songs, lip-sync videos, and skits. The theme of her content focuses on beauty/makeup, music, and entertainment. Therefore, her intended audience is Gen Z, 10 to 19-year-olds who make up 25%, the largest proportion, of users of TikTok (Howarth, 2022). Addison also successfully curates her content toward young girls, who make up 57% of all TikTok users (Howarth, 2022).
Crystal Abidin describes in her article that “Influencers are everyday, ordinary Internet users who accumulate a relatively large following on blogs and social media” (Abidin, 2015). When Addison Rae first started uploading content in July 2019, she was like any other college student who utilized TikTok. As Addison posted short video clips of her dancing to trending songs, she garnered a huge following and fanbase. As of December 2022, Addison has a total of 88.7 million followers and 5.8 billion likes on her TikTok page. Therefore, according to Abidin’s definition of influencers, Addison Rae is an everyday ordinary person who has accumulated a relatively large following on the social media platform TikTok
Abidin also describes an influencer as any user on the internet with a large following who “monetise[s] their following by integrating ‘advertorials’ into their blog or social media posts” (Abidin, 2015). TikTok essentially pays Addison loads of money for uploading content on their platform. According to Forbes’s list of top TikTok earners, Addison made $8.5 million from the app in 2021 (Bonnor, 2022). As many users on TikTok know, the main way to make money from TikTok is by amassing a huge following. Addison knows this very well and purposefully posts content, such as her dances, that she knows will attract many views. This is a clear example of how Addison, as an influencer, is able to monetize her followers. Addison's content further encapsulates this idea as she commits several posts on her account to advertise brands that she works for, such as American Eagle (Bonnor, 2022). Addison effectively embeds “advertorials” into her content in an entertaining way that correlates to Abidin’s definition of an influencer who monetizes their followers.
Additionally, Addison interacts with her followers in “digital and physical spaces” when she utilizes TikTok’s interactive features to like or reply to comments from fans (Abidin, 2015). This is evident throughout her TikTok posts where she can be seen engaging with her followers in the comment section. Addison also attends TikTok conventions and events where she physically meets her followers. In 2020, Addison hosted a fan meet and greet event on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles to take photos, sign autographs, and interact with the many fans that eagerly lined up to see her (The Hollywood Fix, 2020).
One of Addison Rae’s first videos to go viral on TikTok was a video of her dancing with her mom, posted in July 2019. This video consists of Addison and her mother performing dance moves to the song “Obsessed” by Mariah Carey (@addisonre, 2019). The style of the video was Addison dancing and having a good time creating content alongside her mother to one of her favorite songs. This dancing video is the style of videos that initially made Addison famous and successful on the TikTok platform. This video consisted of Addison and her mother performing original and unique dance moves. I find the message of this video to be positive as Addison demonstrates to her viewers that they do not need to be professional dancers to be able to create content and that everyday people are capable of rising to the top.
Adorno and Horkheimer provide us with their definition of standardization by informing us that, “Under monopoly all mass culture is identical, and the lines of its artificial framework begin to show through” (Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M., 1944, p. 1). Essentially, they define standardization as creations that are just an alternative form of the same artifact in popular culture (Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M., 1944, p. 1). I would argue that Addison Rae and her content directly fall under this definition of standardization. A vast majority of the videos on Addison’s TikTok that have contributed to her fame consist of very similar dance videos, all with trending music playing in the background. Addison, as a creator, might believe that since she is posting different dances to different trending songs, she is providing her audience with different content. However, this is a prime example of Adorno & Horkheimer’s definition of standardization. Addison is essentially posting content that are variations of the same thing which in this case is her dancing to trending songs on TikTok.
In essence, Addison Rae is a famous TikToker whose content correlates to some of the theories learned in class from Abidin and Adorno & Horkheimer. Addison has made a name for herself on TikTok by creating dance videos demonstrating how everyday people can rise to the top. The content, style, and message of one of Addison’s first viral TikTok dance videos are a prime example of what her audience expects and likes to see from her. At only 22 years old, Addison has paved the way for a successful career as a social media celebrity, and I look forward to seeing what endeavors she embarks on next.
References
Addison Rae - age, Bio, birthday, family, net worth. National Today. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://nationaltoday.com/birthday/addison-rae/
Howarth, J. (2022, October 12). Tiktok User Age, Gender, & Demographics (2022). Exploding Topics. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://explodingtopics.com/blog/tiktok-demographics#tiktok-users-gender
Abidin, C. (2018, February 28). Communicative ❤ intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness. Ada New Media. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/
Bonner, M. (2022, July 27). Addison Rae's Net Worth in 2022 Is Truly Mind-Blowing, Y'all. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a36037331/addison-rae-net-worth/
The Hollywood Fix. (2020). Addison Rae Easterling Hosts A Fan Meet & Greet At I Am Koko La On Melrose Ave. In West Hollywood. YouTube. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://youtu.be/Q7FThVJHS7M
@addisonre. (2019). Not a regular mom... a Cool mom #foryoupage. TikTok. Retrieved December 5, 2022, from https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR4x2tMd/
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (1944). Dialectic of Enlightenment. pp. 1-12
What an informative post, Michel! Throughout your post, you give readers a comprehensive overview of Addison Rae’s swift ascent to fame. Additionally, you discuss how TikTok, and digital spaces, helped her grow into the social media behemoth she is today. I enjoyed reading your post because of how easy it was to follow. The ideas you presented were clear and coherent. Aside from your writing style, I feel that you skillfully used the Adorno & Horkheimer and Abidin’s readings to reinforce the ideas you were trying to convey. There is not much I would change about this post. It was a short and sweet read. When I was reading this post, I immediately thought about how TikTok’s landscape has changed since 2020. In 2020, creators like Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio had an immense presence, becoming synonymous with the app itself. Nowadays, TikTok seems to be chiefly saturated by small creators, or nimcels, that cater their content to specific communities, marking a departure from the uniform nature of TikTok in 2020. In the article Niche internet microcelebrities are taking over the internet, an interviewee, Bryce Wollmann, says “I’m just being myself and catering to what I think is funny or cool, and a small group of people also think it’s funny. I don’t feel like I have to be selling a product or pushing something.” I think that this sentiment has become widely felt across the internet. People no longer want to consume the same media day in and day out. Furthermore, people want something that aligns with their own wacky and personal interests. A sentence from the article that particularly caught my attention was “[o]nline fame is a consequence for a niche internet micro celebrity, never the goal.” I feel that netizens are becoming more perceptive in regards to the content they see. They can tell when a video is genuine or when its purpose is simply to garner the attention of millions. The transition from big names like Addison Rae on niche internet microcelebrities is certainly an idea that leaves me pondering the future of the TikTok and the internet at large. Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed your blog post, Michel! You used simplicity to your advantage and crafted a concise, educational piece about Addison Rae.
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