“I love you guys!” Addison Rae exclaims. We’re wrapping up a Zoom call with Interview magazine editor Mel Ottenberg, the creative director behind Rae’s music video for “Diet Pepsi”, her latest single, out now. As the budding pop star, certified scream queen, and proto-TikToker waves goodbye and makes a heart symbol with her hands (the classic way, not the Gen Z way , in case you were wondering), a bunch of cutesy red hearts unexpectedly fill the screen.
Rae screams, then laughs. It’s a sweet, out-of-left-field, IRL-to-URL moment that just feels so Addison Rae – and, by the same token, perfectly summarises Addisoncore. It’s only natural, after all, that one of the first TikTok users to find mainstream fame outside of the app – opening the floodgates for scores of dancers and singers after her – should lend her name to a certain vibe, boiling down to a beguiling mix of nonchalance, effervescence, and good old-fashioned star power.
Indeed, the release of “Diet Pepsi” – which arrives almost a year after Rae dropped her first EP, AR , following a series of much-discussed, and beloved, demo leaks online – proves that Rae just “gets it”, Ottenberg says. She gets pop music, fashion, the internet, and, above all, herself. Here, Rae and Ottenberg join Vogue to talk about all things “Diet Pepsi”, Tumblr, and pop-girl summer, as well as to give further context to the term Addisoncore .
Mel, Addison, I love this song and video, and I love you two work.