Originally from the US state of Louisiana, Addison Rae rose to fame when she started posting dance videos – some of them with her mum, Sheri – on social media platform TikTok in 2019. In less than two years, she has amassed a staggering 78.9 million followers, making her the second most followed person on TikTok after Charlie D’Amelio.
Rae has collaborated with fashion brands including FashionNova and has launched her own line of merchandise, which includes products such as hoodies and mugs.
In August 2020, she joined the celebrity beauty brand bandwagon with Item Beauty, a clean and cruelty-free make-up line featuring products such as Lash Snack, Brow Chow and Cheek Monkey.
In March, the mega influencer released her first single, Obsessed, a pop track about loving yourself. Unsurprisingly, the video accompanying the song is heavy on dancing.
Rae debuted the track with a performance on US comedian and talk show host Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show.
The song has yet to become a global hit, although the video has had more than 15 million views on YouTube.
Rae has been in the headlines because of her unlikely friendship with 41-year-old Kourtney Kardashian, the reality television star and older sister of Kim Kardashian.
The two have been hanging out in Los Angeles and New York, and Rae even appeared in the latest episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, in which it’s revealed that she and Kourtney often have sleepovers at Kourtney’s home in Los Angeles.
In spite of her wholesome and positive image, Rae’s rise to fame hasn’t been free of controversy. She’s been accused of “blackfishing”, which refers to the trend of Caucasian people using make-up to appear darker than they actually are. Recently, she and Fallon apologised to black TikTok creators after showing viral dances on his show without crediting them.
