In 2024, sympathy was a knife. In this post-BRAT 2025, it’s very much looking like “Fame is a Gun”, as the latest in a string of unavoidably good previews from Charli’s protege Addison Rae and her imminent debut album, Addison, solidifies the point that the TikTok dance influencer-turned-alternative pop star is taking her pivot to music seriously, even if she’s playing up her brand of perceived dumb plasticity with lyrical musings on the glamorous life. “Fame is a gun and I point it blind / Crash and burn, girl, baby, swallow it dry,” she sings in its chorus. I honestly have no idea what that even means between the elemental contradictions and trying to decipher whether she’s trying to shoot someone, start them on fire, or asphyxiate them to death, but with its immaculate, featherweight electro-pop production designed in a Swedish lab by Luka Kloser and Elvira Anderfjärd and its cornball horror flick music video directed by Sean Price Williams not missing their targets, the single provides further proof that with the right vision behind you, you can make anyone sound like they were born to be a star.

Directed by: Sean Price Williams

Addison Rae’s Addison will be released June 6th on Columbia Records.