Addison Rae is on the verge of pop superstardom, but there was once a time when she was a rising TikTok star and a college student looking to get by.
Rae joined The New York Times‘ Popcast on Friday (May 30), where she reflected on her time at Louisiana State when she was getting paid $20 via PayPal by record labels to post videos dancing to their artists’ songs on TikTok.
“I actually remember getting little brand deals from labels paying me to post when I was in college,” the 24-year-old began. “They jumped on that really fast. I was like, ‘Oh, this is really interesting’ — that the music industry was really leaning on it.”
This appears to be circa 2019, when the platform was beginning to boom and before Rae dropped out of college. Co-host Jon Caramanica threw out a potential fee of “hundreds of dollars,” but Rae revealed it was actually much lower. “A hundred bucks?! I wish, it was probably like $20. I actually remember being like, ‘Holy sh–, $20!’”
Rae confirmed the payments were made via PayPal. “It was actually really sketch,” she admitted. “I was like: ‘Did the $20 hit the PayPal yet?!’”
Addison Rae is a trailblazer in the TikTok creator-to-singer pipeline. She’s looking to capitalize on her momentum with the arrival of her anticipated self-titled debut album via Columbia Records on Friday.
The 12-track project includes previously-released singles like Billboard Hot 100 hit “Diet Pepsi,” “Aquamarine,” “Headphones On,” “High Fashion” and “Fame is a Gun.”
Listen to her entire 80-minute sit-down on Pop Cast below.