Cool New Pop Songs: Addison Rae’s ‘Diet Pepsi’ is a Sugar Rush, and Potential Turning Point

In search of some motivation to assist energy you thru the beginning of one other work week? We really feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve bought you lined. These tracks from artists together with Nina Nesbitt, Sophie Thatcher, Lunar Trip and extra will get you energized to tackle the week.

Coolest New Pop Track of the Week: Addison Rae, “Weight loss plan Pepsi”

Earlier than artists like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato had been accepted as arena-level pop stars within the 2010s, they had been largely dismissed by critics and grownup listeners as Disney-kid performers, making music for the youth and to not be taken too severely. A pop era later, the designation beforehand bestowed to Disney Channel grads has been transferred to social media influencers — a lot of whom, from the D’Amelio sisters to Huddy to Bella Poarch, try to translate hundreds of thousands of TikTok followers into mainstream music stardom, and who’re nonetheless largely dismissed by music-biz gatekeepers.

Addison Rae exists in that group, too: the 23-year-old Louisiana native is a real triple-threat as an actress, former aggressive dancer and recording artist, who occurs to have the fifth-most followers of any TikTok account. Final 12 months, Rae’s debut EP AR contained some brilliant spots as a bubblegum challenge, and she or he popped up on the remix to Charli xcx’s “Von Dutch” in March alongside A.G. Prepare dinner, becoming a member of the Brat prolonged universe months earlier than Brat Summer time formally kicked off.

Now, with a newly signed Columbia Information deal, Rae has launched her first solo single of 2024 — and after Rae’s previous gestures at pop stardom, “Weight loss plan Pepsi” means that she might sometime make the leap.

“Weight loss plan Pepsi” performs out like a Lana Del Rey track refracted by a radio-ready lens. Soda will get sipped and blue denims get ripped throughout a backseat encounter with a dude in a gold chain, as Rae delineates between sexually charged exposition within the verses, breathless utterances within the pre-chorus and blissed-out falsetto within the hook (“After we drive in your automobile, I’m your child / Shedding all my innocence within the backseat,” she sings) — shifting keys on the ultimate refrain to emphasise her craving.

The “Weight loss plan Pepsi” music video, directed by Sean Worth Williams, leans into the Lana-esque Americana haze, with speedy black-and-white clips speaking bleary lust and pinup-model iconography. But Rae additionally places her personal playful spin on that picture, grinning whereas masking her face with the American flag and planting her lipstick on a automobile window.

No matter its future chart impression or function in previous a correct Columbia Information album, “Weight loss plan Pepsi” is a promising step for Rae, as a beguiling pop observe that establishes an aesthetic for the multi-hyphenate. The darkly shimmering sound is extra mature than that of AR, however extra importantly, it’s extra clearly outlined; Rae’s debut EP was spectacular, however we’re now beginning to get a greater sense of who she could possibly be as a recording artist. For Rae, “Weight loss plan Pepsi” may not be a right away smash, however it might very nicely show to be a turning level.

Listed below are some new pop songs value trying out this week…