The Rebrand of the Century

In honor of fame is a gun releasing and us all on the brink of a new summer theme (Brat summer 2.0), let's take a look at the craziest rebrand I have ever seen in my life. I am only 22 so take that as you will. For those who are unfamiliar with Addison's origin story, she began as the typical pretty girl tik toker in the COVID era who capitalized on her stereotypical beauty and ability to do short 7 second dances. By putting out content and going to collab at places like the Hype House, she was able to amass millions of followers. She wore the brandy melville, the striped t shirts, the skinny jeans and white inner corner highlight like the rest of us. Addison tried to lay the ground work for herself in Hollywood, making an appearance on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and even starring in a movie on Netflix. Yet, those never really stuck. It seemed to be another grab at trying to stay "in the news" or famous as some may say. She eventually also tried another stunt that all the tik tok stars did--singing. BLEHHHH. Which, YES, I also at first was like, girl what the actual f*** is this. It seemed at the time that miraculously all tik tokers somehow had childhood dreams of being a singer???? cough cough dixie d'amelio. HOWEVER, after her first single, Obsessed, was released she seemed to go into a hiatus from social media. The only times she was seen were in these odd paparazzi photos that it almost looked like she called them to come.

I mean these three pics are a complete 180 from what she was wearing in her tik tok days (you can look that up of your own volition but I am sure you can picture it). Additionally, all of a sudden she is making an appearance at the met in 2021 and 2022 (yes I may be jumping timelines a little) wearing a Tom Ford for Gucci gown on the left in red and a Michael Kors sliver on the right. I mean still looking at these how in the heck do we get to where we are now where her outfits are characterized by micro shorts, sheer and see through garments, lingerie and sprinkle of random hats. I know this has not been as funny of post so far but BARE WITH ME, the timeline and groundwork must be laid. To continue, we then see Addison at Charli XCX's boiler room set

Boiler room outfit

in a black bra and micro shorts like LAYING ON THE DJ BOOTH in a very sensual way. For me, this was a huge transition from cute tik tok dancer star to sensual celebrity who was WAY sexier in her clothing choice and actions. Not necessarily in an obnoxious attention grabbing way either, it just seemed, different. As we go on, Addison is then on the BRAT remix album for the song Von Dutch and making frequent appearances at the BRAT concerts and coachella. I MEAN HELLO WHAT. Aquamarine also releases and Headphones On and we see this RAPID change in her image on the internet. Which I mean both songs are actually iconic so.

The aquamarine music video got a ton of attention for its artisty in the music industry and her music and identity has been classified in a similar way as BRAT summer. Addison Rae summer. I mean Charli XCX LITERALLY had "Addison Rae Summer" on her the screen at her coachella performance which was insane in it of itself. One may theorize, how in the f*** did this happen. Sure we can say rebranding occurs, but a lot of people stray away I feel like because it is a huge risk to rebrand. However, there have been many success stories like GAP recently so maybe this is not as true nowadays. Yet, people have theorized that this rebrand takes huge inspiration from Addison's friend Lexee Smith. Check out her tik tok. Now. Lexee's tik tok has that same funky, cool girl thats slightly weird vibe that Addison has taken and run with. The slightly erotic feeling that the videos elicit at times while still feeling unique and real is a direct parallel to Addison's. Regardless, Addison's team has hit the ball out of the park with this rebrand. While the clothes sometimes seem to seem so random, it just gives so much camp and uniqueness in a music industry that has been lacking theatrics. If you want to see what I am saying, watch her recent music videos. I have heard in a recent video that she takes a ton of inspiration from Madonna and Brittney Spears but that she also likes that her audience does not know her sound yet. So expect the unexpected I guess. But DANG this rebrand was good.