In “Headphones On,” the fourth single from her upcoming debut album “Addison,” inauthenticity and an overreliance on nostalgia once again hold social media personality Addison Rae back from being the pop artist that she’s convinced she is.

The Louisiana-born artist released the trip-hop inspired track after an appearance at Coachella in April, during which she confirmed June 6 as the release date of “Addison.” The release comes after the rollout of three other singles, “Diet Pepsi,” “Aquamarine” and “High Fashion.”

Floating above the slow, percussion-heavy beat of “Headphones On” are Rae’s signature breathy vocals as she laments how she copes with life’s difficulties, be it by puffing cigarettes to ease the pain or by slipping on her headphones and escaping into music. Life is hard — Rae reminds listeners for all four minutes of the track — even for a self-declared “it-girl.” 

Melodically, the song succeeds in summoning the ’90s-reminiscent atmosphere it works like a racehorse to reproduce. After enough listens of “Headphones On,” one almost feels like tilting their head back, closing their eyes and sinking into a time when everyone wore baggy jeans and chunky sneakers (not just the cool kids), Britney Spears and Madonna dominated radio stations and TV’s latest shocking plotline was that Big was moving to Paris. 

At merely 24, however, Rae would not have existed to witness this pre-turn-of-the-century era, or at least not its peak. Perhaps that is why the song’s insistence on affiliation with the ’90s feels so ham-handed. Sure, she succeeds in outlining the silhouette of the period, but because Rae cannot draw from her own memory, the finished result is a touch clunky and caricaturish, like an artificial intelligence rendering of the Mona Lisa.

The chronological inauthenticity bleeds into the thematic inauthenticity of the lyrics. Rae’s continuous insistence, both inside and outside of the studio, that she is a certifiably “alternative” artist with a cigarette dependency, who dyes her hair a crazy hot pink and doesn’t mind being overtly a bit sexually promiscuous, is as difficult to look at as it is to listen to. This is not because of the musical and aesthetic byproducts being low quality, but because they are so deeply manufactured, Rae appears practically still wrapped in plastic. 

If the modern music scene has taught rising artists like Rae and their prospective listeners anything, it’s that the war of style versus substance is over. One mustn’t have either to achieve a modicum of success. 

What remains necessary, however, is authenticity. Even originality may be too much to ask, but for an artist like Rae to reach the heights of the stars whom she sees herself as the successor to, she must at least uncover an artistic identity that isn’t simply synonymous with someone else’s.

 Rae has inarguable talent; her vocals are as soft and sugary as candyfloss, and she has a knack for tunes that burrow in one’s ear. Only time will tell if her debut album will flesh out the half-baked identity she’s currently cementing — but in the meantime, listeners can stream her four currently released singles and hope for an album that truly makes one want to lean back, escape and put their headphones on.

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