Singer Addison Rae’s promo for her upcoming single “Headphones On”—featuring her singing into an iPod Nano with wired earbuds—has sparked a debate over which is more forced: the clip, or the hate against her. Critics say the video feels “manufactured” while her fans (or, “Sunraes”) argue the backlash is thinly veiled TikTok bias. The clip, meant to tap into early 2000s nostalgia, became a lightning rod across X for conversations about authenticity and influencer fame.
Rae is far from the first blossoming musician to field accusations like these, and plenty others—including Lana Del Rey—have survived.
Addison Rae announces her debut album
Firstly, if you’re unfamiliar with the term, an iPod is a digital music player from the 2000s. The first version launched on Nov. 10, 2001, years before smartphones became widely available. These little devices could store hundreds of songs, and you could organize them into playlists, which was incredible technology at the time.
As related tech rapidly evolved, the iPod became obsolete by the 2010s. Before everybody tossed their iPods into drawers to collect dust, Apple released even smaller versions called iPod Nanos in 2005. The company discontinued these in 2017 and finally gave up on the iPod altogether in 2022.
Addison Rae stuns with 3rd generation iPod nano. pic.twitter.com/kzr4o8CyNL
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 15, 2025
Rae announced “Headphones On” with a series of teaser videos showing her vibing to the song with wired earbuds plugged into the vintage tech playing the single’s music video on its tiny screen. The new track, coming out on April 18, is part of her debut album, the title of which is to be announced.
If her goal was to get people talking about her, she succeeded—but perhaps not the way she’d hoped.
Critics are calling Addison Rae’s iPod Nano video ‘forced’
On social media, particularly on X, the reactions to these iPod Nano clips were, in a word, polarized. Search the phrase “Addison Rae forced” and you’ll find a mixed list of opposing opinions.
Once everyone got their jokes about 2000s tech out of the way, many users bemoaned the videos as overly manufactured or “forced.” User @sioseul joked that they’ve “never seen an artist’s brand feel SO manufactured and i’m a kpop stan.”
Another user, @bxbama, referenced a Family Guy joke by replying to Pop Crave’s tweet with: “It insists upon itself.”
Leaning into nostalgia is often a perfect vehicle for self-promotion, especially when times are bad. However, you can run the risk of looking like you’re trying too hard to seem retro-cool. X user @mxhli replied to the Pop Crave announcement with the (admittedly vibey) “U R not a vibe bro” meme.
“24 and being driven around in an expensive car but omg! An iPod! So y2k,” said @batscallme with dripping sarcasm.
Meanwhile, @tasimetre wrote, “Her aura is so phony….like are people really gagging at another forced 2000s reference,” racking up over 5.6K likes.
Her aura is so phony….like are people really gagging at another forced 2000s reference
— The Vü Viscount (@tasimetre) April 15, 2025
Or do they hate her because she’s from TikTok?
But Addison Rae fans think the hate has little to do with the iPod Nano or any vibe she’s supposedly giving off. Instead, they believe the criticism has everything to do with her origins as a TikTok star. Rae rose to fame on the video platform in 2019, amassing over 88 million followers and becoming the fifth most-followed TikToker to date.
According to X user @ThatBritneySlut, “You guys hate the fact that a tiktok star turned herself into a legit pop star and it eats at you every single day you miserable swamp a** f*cks.”
“Some of you just hate her cause she’s from TikTok,” agreed @jstHalleysComet. “There is nothing wrong or weird or ‘forced’ about this video.”
Others compared Rae’s burgeoning singing career to the artist Lana Del Rey. She also faced backlash around the debut of her first major album, “Born to Die,” much of it based on the idea of authenticity. Despite this and critics giving the album somewhat mixed reviews, Lana del Ray quickly became a household name.
X user @lulleshwari offered “a reminder that people questioned lana’s authenticity in the start as well, and btd was also not that good,” concluding that Addison Rae “has great things coming her way.”
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