It’s a known fact that trends are recycled and brought back roughly every 20 years. For example, low-rise jeans from the Y2K era are being worn today, and streetwear from the 90s was being revived in the early 2010s. This phenomenon not only applies to fashion, but it also includes icons, styles of music, body types and more stylistic choices.
Today, the spirit of Britney Spears is alive in upcoming pop artists. From her fashion and costumes to her campy performance style, new artists everywhere are following in Spears’ footsteps. In an effort to help the world find its new muse, these pop girls are who I think are in the running for the next pop artist.
First up is Tate McRae. She started her career on season 13 of “So You Think You Can Dance,” in a special season made up entirely of young, up-and-coming dancers. McRae was only 12 years old when she competed on the show and placed third. After, she became popular for posting original songs on YouTube, including “one day,“ which has 42 million views.
McRae took inspiration from Spears on the red carpet of the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards; however, she has also said, “no one can compare to Britney Spears.”
When it comes to comparing McRae to Spears, I have a hard time finding a whole lot of connection between the two of them when you push dance aside. Everyone knows Spears is a phenomenal dancer, and she has been extremely present during her career thus far. Even now, she posts videos of her dancing in her home. It’s an important connection between the two of them; however, McRae’s performance and style are very different from Spears. Although McRae is a contender for Spears' predecessor, I see other candidates as more qualified for the position.
Next up is Adéla. Adéla first became popular as a member of Hybe x Geffen’s Dream Academy. Featured in “The Debut: Dream Academy” documentary on Netflix, Adéla competed to be a part of Hybe’s global girl group, KATSEYE. She was ultimately eliminated from the competition, but she started her solo career with her debut album last year, “The Provocateur.”
Not only does Adéla match Spears’ dance ability, but she also shares her rough-around-the-edges performance style. Adéla is very early in her career, and it’s obvious she takes inspiration from different pop icons, including Spears and Lady Gaga, but given that she is so early in her career, it’s hard to tell exactly what direction she will go.
Finally, we have Addison Rae. Rae began her career on TikTok as a member of the Hype House, wherein viral TikTokers like Charli D’Amelio and Avani lived together and created content together. She gained recognition from around the country for dancing on TikTok, but received a lot of hate. Rae released her first song, “I’m Obsessed,” in 2021, which quickly became a meme, and ultimately did nothing for her music career. In 2024, she collaborated on a remix of Charli XCX’s song “Von Dutch,” which reignited her music career. Since then, she has released her debut album, “Addison.”
The trajectory of Rae’s career has a lot of parallels to Spears’. Starting with her career on TikTok, which was targeted towards children and young teenagers, reflects Spears’ start of working on “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”
Rae experienced a significant change in fashion, style and music, directly reflecting Spears’ career switch. Their performances on stage are very similar, even down to the way Rae dresses on stage.
In my opinion, if the world is looking for another pop icon as large as Spears, we have one with Rae.
All of the up-and-coming pop artists are extremely talented and have their own unique style. As McRae said, you can’t compare to Spears. She’s the blueprint. Any artist who tries to directly imitate Spears’ career is pushing a boulder up a mountain; however, with the artists today, one very well could reach the top.
Alaina Sayre is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Alaina about their column? Email them at as015023@ohio.edu.
