Addison Rae did one thing differently from other TikTokers. As a result, she became pop music's new darling 🚀

What can we learn from how Addison Rae was able to break clear from the label of "TikToker" and become known for her music, instead?

Addison Rae was one of the bright-faced teenagers in 2019 who found overnight fame amongst pre-teens on TikTok doing dances and trends. She appeared in the famous New York Times article, by Taylor Lorenz, about the newly found Hype House in 2020. The “hype” from the Hype House would lead to a social media craze of influencers and media companies launching their version of content houses. (I always found it quite unethical to fly a bunch of teenagers out to a new city and stick them in a house together, as employees nonetheless, but that could be a deep dive for another day.)

Addison’s association with the “Hype House” was short-lived but it felt like a pillar of where internet culture was headed. The musical.ly generation before them were bullied endlessly by grown men on YouTube. But the new generation of teenagers finding fame on the newly re-branded TikTok were finally seen as “cool”. Addison being one of them.

Source: New York Times, Taylor Lorenz

The first generation of TikTokers to find overnight fame in 2020 did what most influencers do. They launched podcasts, makeup lines and continued to posted daily.

Addison Rae did all of the above. She launched a podcast with her mom called, “That Was Fun?”. She became the face of the newly launched “Item Beauty” which was discontinued a year later. She continued posting daily and following the trends.

But then, she went quiet.

Around 2022, Addison Rae slowed down her brand collabs and posting online. This felt counter-intuitive, as the TikTok gold rush was underway. Not only were creators and brands scrambling to go viral every day on TikTok, but legacy platforms like YouTube and Instagram were launching their versions of a “FYP”.

Addison did something brilliant. She barely appeared online, except when reported on from a “third party perspective”. What I mean by that is fans only saw her online when media companies posted the paparazzi pictures of her around LA.

In 2021, she released her debut song “Obsessed” as an independent artist. I loved the song but it got some mixed reviews and people made fun of the dancing from the music video.

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Instead of following up the viral single with an immediate EP or album, she went quiet again.

The songs from her upcoming EP that would release two years later in 2023 would be leaked online. Now, this is only my OPINION. But unless you are on an Ariana Grande-level of fame, I don’t think a song is getting leaked unless you want it to.

Whether the leak was intentional or not, it was brilliant. It acted as a litmus test. People became curious about her music and began begging her to release the full song because it was now a “secret” that we weren’t supposed to be aware of.

Once she released her song for “2 die 4”, she had tons of hype and a Charli XCX feature. If she had been teasing it directly on TikTok and begging people to make dances to it, it may have never gone viral. But because it was a “leak” and a “secret” at first, people were rabid to see more.

Outside of music, she quietly began auditioning. She was cast in Netlfix’s 2021 “He’s All That” and the 2023 horror film “Thanksgiving”. Getting the co-sign from legacy media, like Netflix, was another example of a “third person perspective”.

Instead of over-saturating herself on TikTok, she leaned into what I call “social proof”. People are more likely to be open minded to you and what you do if they are seeing you from an outside perspective.

Social proof is so important in breaking out of your niche online. You can have 10 million followers but if you never reach the level of “social proof”, then you may be stuck in your niche forever.

If you are a smaller creator or brand and you can not get TMZ to follow you around, that is okay! Other ways to get “social proof” would be going on podcasts as a guest, getting people to stitch or duet your videos or getting articles online written about you.

When I got my verification on TikTok, one of the first things they asked for was three or more articles that featured me. That right there is them looking for “social proof”.

I talk more about “social proof” and Addison Rae’s rise in the recent episode of the “Ahead of the Curve” podcast. You can watch the video version here:

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