The influencer pop sphere is, mathematically, a graveyard with more misfires than successful conversions of internet cachet into hit parades. The same machine that helped Troye Sivan and Benson Boone evolve also yields terrible singles by controversial beauty-industry personality James Charles. When TikTok star Addison Rae first dipped her toe into pop in 2021, she seemed destined for the latter bucket. Her first single, “ Obsessed ,” didn’t register as the satire she intended, as people assumed the dancer, now suddenly a singer, was deeply conceited. But in pop, with the right ideas and co-signs, the bubbliness and determination people came to resent in Rae’s TikTok demeanor are common currency. On her 2023 EP, AR, she worked with up to five co-writers per song and producers who b

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