Charli XCX and Addison Rae are ‘Just Living That Life’

Addison Rae is most widely known as one of TikTok’s biggest stars, but her music career flies under pop culture’s radar.

Rae released her debut EP, ‘AR’ in August 2023, a pop record that Rolling Stone referred to as “plasticky, pristine pop that online audiences ironically, and then unironically eat up.” The lead single, ‘2 Die 4’ features pop legend Charli XCX. 

The social media celebrity reunited with the musician in March along with producer A.G. Cook, for the remix of ‘Von Dutch’, the first single of Charli’s sixth album ‘Brat’, set for a summer release. Charli described the upcoming record as a “club record,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “I was born to make dance music […] xcx6 is the album I’ve always wanted to make,” she said. 

The guitar mimics a revving engine, tying the backing track’s heavy synth and muffled drum beat together through the song. Her voice is accompanied by light electronic autotune, “I’m-I’m just living that life / Von Dutch, cult classic, but I still pop,” she sings in the first verse, referencing her decade-long industry success.  

The pair alternate verses on the remix. Rae sings “Made another page just to look at my pics / My tight dress and red lips, I know you want it,” and Charli follows, “Linked with Addison on Melrose / Bought some cute clothes and wrote this in the studio / ‘Cause I’m just living that life.” 

Rae solidified herself as an icon in the hyperpop and electropop community when she let out a high-pitched scream during the bridge. And Charli trailed off: “I’m just living that life,” and the scream came in with the reverberating electronic beat. 

Charli filmed the moment Rae surprised everyone in the studio with her scream. “The moment Addison did this during ad libs,” Charli wrote on the day of the remix’s release, posting the video to TikTok, “[there was] one take. None of us knew it was coming.” The TikTok shows Charli dancing around, while Rae is streaming into the mic on the opposite side of the glass. 

On February 22, Charli held a rave titled PARTYGIRL, at the iconic Boiler Room in Brooklyn, breaking the venue’s records with 25,000 RSVPs and lines wrapped around the block.

Charli invited Rae and A.G. Cook, as well as actress and New York it girl Julia Fox to join her as she DJed. Rae took the stage with Charli and the crowd, while ‘2 Die 4’ played and Julia Fox also made her debut performance singing ‘Down the Drain,’ her first, but hopefully not last, single.