Addison Rae is bringing back the 2000s – but do we really want to go back?

Is the fun of bubblegum pop worth it?

Addison Rae is championing the return of noughties fashion and music, but aside from the fun and sparkle of the era, do we really want a full return to the culture of the 2000s?

Characterised by bubblegum pink, frosted eyelids, glossy lips, short skirts, pop music and of course, heavy diet culture, the 2000s were certainly a time. 

Pop princess Addison Rae has fully embraced the noughties in every aspect of both her wardrobe and her music. 

The cover for her upcoming self-titled album has been likened to Taylor Swift’s debut album and Britney Spears’ iconic self-titled album.

One fan posted about how the album “is so 2000s indie pop diva coded… like natasha bedingfield. Addison rae you ate that”, while another wrote, “i love the addison cover sooo much it’s so late 2000s + nostalgic. a lot of yall won’t get it immediately but the vision willll settle in #trust”. 

The star has released music videos for her songs Headphones On and High Fashion this year, both featuring Y2K-era staple low-rise jeans (beaded belt included, of course), plus glitter eyeshadow, a diamonte bra, cropped zip-up hoodie, bejewelled belly button, and Xtina-looking blonde and pink hair. 

Y2K fashion has been steadily returning to our wardrobes for the last few years, starting small and working all the way up to trends we swore we’d never revisit – I’m looking at you, skirts layered over pants and low-rise jeans. 

The star has released music videos for her songs Headphones On and High Fashion this year, both featuring Y2K-era staple low-rise jeans (beaded belt included, of course), plus glitter eyeshadow, a diamonte bra, cropped zip-up hoodie, bejewelled belly button, and Xtina-looking blonde and pink hair. Image: Addison Rae on Youtube

In the two decades since the noughties, we’ve celebrated a gradual shift away from the body obsession and diet culture that saw virtually every female star’s appearance picked apart on the cover of every magazine of the 2000s.

While women’s bodies should never be subject to trends, we’ve loved our curves and idolised big butts instead of tiny waists in recent years, seen a conscious move towards working out for health and strength instead of weight loss, and collectively disposed of all the diet guides that plagued the 2000s and 2010s. 

The noughties have been frowned upon for promoting heroin-chic and encouraging grown women to hold onto their child-like figures for as long as humanly possible. 

Whether a recessioncore indicator, as many online suggest, a part of another trend cycle, or a sign we all want some fun after years of listening to lo-fi house music, bubblegum pop and club classics are back, and we’re loving it. Image: @addisonraee on Instagram

But the music was undeniably great. Whether a recessioncore indicator, as many online suggest, a part of another trend cycle, or a sign we all want some fun after years of listening to lo-fi house music, bubblegum pop and club classics are back, and we’re loving it. 

But with so many of the 2000s trends taking over fashion, music and culture, is it possible to leave the body policing in the past?

Can we have the noughties without the body policing?

After thinking we’d never reach for pants that weren’t high-rise a few years ago, the quintessential midriff of the turn of the millennium is so back.

Low-rise jeans are a wardrobe staple – albeit they’d probably be considered mid-rise compared to the pubic bone-grazing cut of the 2000s. Image: @addisonraee on Instagram

Low-rise jeans are a wardrobe staple – albeit they’d probably be considered mid-rise compared to the pubic bone-grazing cut of the 2000s. 

Stomach and hip tattoos are popping up on cool girls, as well as the tattoo trend we never could’ve picked to have a resurgence – the tramp stamp.

Despite anyone who lived through the height of the trend telling us for the last twenty years that tramp stamps almost always come with regret, we can’t help but love the tiny butterflies, wings, and text sitting pretty on the lower backs of stars and influencers. 

Belly button rings are also having a moment, with girls changing out their tiny sleeper hoops for double piercings or long, dangling charmed variants proudly accessorising the most Y2K of outfits. Image: Getty

Belly button rings are also having a moment, with girls changing out their tiny sleeper hoops for double piercings or long, dangling charmed variants proudly accessorising the most Y2K of outfits. 

With many of the noughties fashion trends incorporating our stomachs as accessories, is it possible to relive the 2000s without the associated fatphobia that accompanied these trends the last time?

As Teen Vogue art director Emily Zirimis argued in 2022, ‘acknowledging that the origins of a fashion trend are inherently and historically fatphobic should not necessarily translate to never participating in them, especially if you want to. To me it means that we should participate in them as a small act of reclamation.’

Y2K fashion and music isn't the problem, our ideas of who ‘suits’ those clothes are.  Image: Pexels

Y2K fashion and music isn't the problem, our ideas of who ‘suits’ those clothes are. 

After acknowledging that a ‘bikini body’ doesn’t have to look any one way, we should have also realised that the midriff-baring styles of noughties fashion aren’t meant to only be worn with a six pack. 

Maybe we can relive the fun, feel-good aspects of 2000s culture, this time without the body shaming.

Originally published as Addison Rae is bringing back the 2000s – but do we really want to go back?