Who is Addison Rae? How TikTok fame led to one of the year's biggest pop albums

Metro

4 days ago

Addison Rae has recently transitioned from Internet stardom to full-blown mainstream pop royalty.
After racking up a following of more than 88million on TikTok, Addison has recently transitioned to music, releasing her debut album, Addison, to critical acclaim earlier this month.
As a result, she's been tapped to open for Lana Del Rey on her upcoming tour and has even announced a headline tour, much to the delight of her quickly growing legion of fans.
Her recent Los Angeles hometown show attracted more than 100,000 fans in the ticketing queue for a venue that holds just 2,300 people, revealing a massive demand for the social media star-turned pop diva.
Previously, she was named the highest-earning creator on TikTok, ahead of Charli, with Forbes estimating that she earned $5million (£3.5m) in 2020.
Addison – full name Addison Rae Easterling – was a competitive dancer from a young age, before she started posting dance videos on TikTok when it first gained popularity in 2020.
Ambitious and driven, she sometimes shared up to eight videos a day as she built a larger and larger following. At time of writing, she has nearly 90million followers on TikTok.
She's also an actor, businessperson, podcaster, and breakout pop superstar.
The Louisiana native briefly attended Louisiana State University, but dropped out when she started blowing up on TikTok, and moved to Los Angeles. @addisonre
@Alani Nutrition 💟💟💖💖 ♬ original sound – .
Addison is 24 years old.
She was born on October 6, 2000, and was raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, by her parents, Monty Lopez and Sheri Easterling.
Rae has two younger brothers, Enzo Lopez and Lucas Lopez, and an older half-sister, Macye Neumeyer.
She's also made friends with the Kardashian clan through her TikTok fame, following in their footsteps as a businesswoman after launching her own beauty brand, and has often opened up about her close bond with Kourtney Kardashian.
Revealing the advice the reality star gave her when it comes to being in the public eye, Addison told Glamour magazine: 'Something that she told me was, 'Make sure you're always enjoying what you're doing because this is the life you're living. Make sure it's something that you're proud of and you're continuing to do the thing you love.''
The pair met through their mutual friend, YouTube star David Dobrik, when he filmed a video with Kourtney, and have stayed close ever since.
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The 24-year-old has branched into acting, starring in the 2021 Netflix romantic comedy He's All That, a gender-bending remake of the 1999 teen classic She's All That.
She's also had roles in a handful of other projects, including the 2023 horror movie Thanksgiving.
Addison is also set to appear alongside Ryan Reynolds, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Momoa, and Dan Levy in the upcoming animated action comedy Animal Friends, releasing in October.
Addison told The New York Times of her musical aspirations back in 2020: 'Pretty much from the jump, I was like, 'I don't want to cut demos, I want to write,'' she said.
'So I at least know what I'm doing, or can connect with the things that I'm singing. Especially because I was so new to it.'
Eventually, all that practice led her to release her first single, Obsessed, in 2021 – which was critically panned.
But that didn't stop her from trying again. Addison then released her first EP AR in August 2023, to marginally more success.
But things really started to take off in 2024, when she signed with Columbia Records and collaborated with Charli XCX on the remix of her song Von Dutch.
This bolstered her name recognition, which helped earn her first Billboard Hot 100 hit in 2024 with her single Diet Pepsi, which peaked at 54.
This month, after years of hard work, her studio album, Addison, debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200.
Since its release, the album has been lauded by fans and critics alike. The album includes tracks like New York, Life's No Fun Through Clear Waters, and Summer Forever.
The debut earned an impressive 8.0 from Pitchfork, with the publication writing: 'Rae's debut album, Addison, floats in on a swell of goodwill following a string of improbably great singles, each one a little weirder than the last.'
Aptly titled The Addison Tour,Addison Rae is going on tour this fall.
The tickets went on sale on June 20, while pre-sale kicked off on June 18.
Addison will kick things off in Dublin, Ireland, at the National Stadium on August 25, followed by Manchester Academy in Manchester, England, on the August 28. More Trending
The tour will run till November 17, when Rae will make a final stop in Sydney, Australia, at the Enmore Theatre.
AUGUST
26 – Dublin, Ireland National Stadium
28 – Manchester, England Manchester Academy
30 – London, England O2 Forum Kentish Town
SEPTEMBER
2 – Paris, France L'Olympia
4 – Brussels, Belgium Cirque Royal
5 – Amsterdam, Netherlands Melkweg
7 – Berlin, Germany Uber Eats Music Hall
8 – Cologne, Germany Live Music Hall
22 – Austin, TX ACL Live
25 – Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom
27 – Nashville, TN The Pinnacle
28 – Atlanta, GA The Eastern
30 – Washington, DC The Anthem
OCTOBER
1 – Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Paramount
5 – Boston, MA Roadrunner
7 – Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore Philadelphia
8 – Toronto, ON Rebel
10 – Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre
13 – Denver, CO Mission Ballroom
16 – Oakland, CA Fox Theater
19 – Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
NOVEMBER
11 – Melbourne, Australia Forum Theatre
14 – Brisbane, Australia Fortitude Music Hall
17 – Sydney, Australia Enmore Theatre @brycehall
not alone this time @addisonre ♬ Wet Shoota – sound remixes
Addison Rae previously dated fellow TikToker Bryce Hall in a very public relationship that ended in 2020.
She began dating music producer Omer Fedi in 2021, and while she has largely kept the relationship out of the public eye, its believed that the pair are still together.
In a 2025 interview with Rolling Stone, Addison said: 'I'm very guarded when it comes to relationships because my first public relationship taught me a lot about myself,' Rae said, speaking of her ex Bryce Hall. 'That was a s*** show. He was very vocal about everything, and it was a mess.'
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