Addison

DECENT 7

Addison Rae, former tiktoker turned burgeoning popstar, seems to be the most recent name in the industry to have taken the small, but loud, section of chronically online, pop culture-crazed internet users by storm. I myself have admittedly been on and off the Addison hype train over the past year (seriously the first single for this album came out back in August of 2024), and as the long-awaited debut approaches, the question remains: Will she deliver upon the promise of a good album, as possibly suggested from her array of surprisingly solid pre-release singles?

The answer is… mostly yes. “Addison” is certainly not deprived of qualities worthy of praise. I largely appreciated the succinctness of the record, how all of the songs never overstay its welcome, and I must point to the incredible production handled by producers Luca Kloser, ELVIRA, and Addison herself, the instrumentation to these breezy, clubby tracks are crisp, clean, and catchy, packed with small details that help enhance the listening experience. I feel this is best represented by what is easily the best song on the album “High Fashion”, the wonky, jagged synths utilised in this song are awfully addictive, my best description of this feeling is that it simply scratches an itch in my brain.

There is much talk about how Addison’s music lacks identity and originality, and to a certain degree I do see the reasoning behind this argument, “Diet Pepsi” and “Summer Forever” are almost indiscernible from early Lana, “Times Like These” and “Headphones On” sound like Madonna rejects. But unlike most other artists who heavily draw from these two artists, the specific reference points that Addison makes to their music are nicher and less common. She draws from the more rhythmic, R&B-inspired side of Lana rather than the moodier aspects that most people copy from, and her allusions to Madonna are mostly to her 90s, trip-hop inspired work rather than her 80s, dance-pop output. She clearly has good taste, and her persona is just adequately infectious that it prevents her from sounding too cliche and generic in my eyes, especially compared to some of the major culprits of musical unoriginality who pollute the pop mainstream, Addison is hardly the most egregious offender.

The biggest sin of Addison’s music though… girl you really need to work on your vocals and songwriting skills. There are moments on this record where her voice seems so drowned in effects that it blurs right into the production, and wow, there are some legitimately BAD lyrics on this album that actually made me stop in my tracks, like on “Aquamarine”’s verses where it seems like she’s run out of things to say but the second sentence, or on “Money Is Everything” with the excessive pop culture references and that cringe-inducing, screamed-out line at the end. It really is the biggest obstacle in Addison’s road to pop stardom. Fix that and she has the potential to deliver a much more impressive project.

Still, Addison shows pretty great potential here, hoping she takes what she learned from the process of making this album, improve upon her artistic skills, and come back with bigger and better music for us to enjoy.

Favs: New York, High Fashion, Summer Forever, Headphones On
Least Fav: Fame is a Gun, Times Like These