Addison Rae, an American social media personality, has risen to increased fame over the past few years through her dance and challenge videos on TikTok. Forbes states that Addison has earned $5 million, making her the top TikTok earner of 2020.
Rae has established many branded merchandise and sponsored content, become a global spokesperson for American Eagle, hosts a weekly podcast with her mom known as ‘Mama Knows Best’, and has her own makeup line called Item Beauty.
Rae released her song “Obsessed” on March 18 and has already amassed 14 million views. The track was produced by well-known producers Benny Blanco, Blake Slatkin, and Ryan McMahon. The song's lyrics mainly discuss self love and worth. The music video was directed by Diane Martel who also directed for Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, and Coldplay. Addison also wears her own makeup line making it a strategic promotion.
Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Show often has celebrities promoting their new releases, usually through a performance and a discussion with Fallon. Rae debuted her new single on the show on March 26; however, it was met with a lot of criticism from viewers.
The YouTube comments on her performance reveal the mixed reactions behind her debut as a singer. A comment from a viewer states “personally it’s irritating seeing a tik-toker get things easily handed to them when there’s actual artists in the world who have talent.” However, there are positive comments such as one from Pop World expressing, “Ok I don't care if she was lip-syncing or not but her stage presence here was really good! She puts in so much energy & grace into her dance moves. If she actually sings live next time, I feel like she can become HUGE.”
There was one segment in particular that has created a lot of controversy. Rae demonstrated multiple TikTok dances while Jimmy Fallon was holding placards that had the names of the songs such as Megan Thee Stallion’s song “Savage” and The Weekend's song “Blinding Lights”. However instead of playing the songs, a beat similar to the songs were played. This made the performance awkward and what others say “cringey”.
Many people are upset that the Tonight Show’s producers and Rae did not acknowledge any of the choreographers. This has been a subject of controversy in the past when many failed to give credit to Jalaih Harmon, the teenager who choreographed the “Renegade” dance.
Rae responded to this criticism when she told TMZ ,“I think they were all credited in the original YouTube posting. It’s kind of hard to credit during the show. But they all know that I love them so much. I support all of them so much. Hopefully one day we can all meet up and dance together.”
Many individuals believe this is insensitive and nonsense because the shows producers could have easily written the choreographers names on the placards or even written it somewhere on the screen like they did with Ariana Grande when she was impersonating artists’ singing styles.
Additionally, Rae states that she wants to collaborate with the choreographers but she could have easily extended the invite for the creators of the dances to come on the show and dance along with her. She could have even collaborated with them through the collaboration option on TikTok.
On top of all these controversies, Addison was seen using a glass shield while out in New York City. Although the vaccine is out, that does not mean that the pandemic is over and that people can roam around without proper masks. The CDC even recommends to not replace masks with a face shield.
Below are the choreographers whose dances were featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon:
"Do It Again": @noahschnapp
"Savage Love": @jazlynebaybee
"Corvette Corvette": @yvnggprince
"Laffy Taffy": @flyboyfu
"Savage": @kekejanjah
"Blinding Lights": @macdaddyz
"Up": @theemyanicole
"Fergalicious": @thegilberttwins
Credit goes to Buzzfeed.com for the list