TikTok is a well-known social media platform where users can form and make their opinions known using the comment section of TikTok posts. The comments are often the funniest part of TikTok and even add to the experience of scrolling on TikTok.
Two of the ‘OG’ TikTok influencers include Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio. They have been furthering their careers and moving out of TikTok and onto bigger things but have had very different experiences on how the audience reacted to them.
Addison Rae is moving into a music career and has released a new song, ‘Diet Pepsi, ‘ which has gotten positive reviews from TikTok. The audience is starting to accept her popularity. As producers make her this popstar symbol, the audience is decoding this message and beginning to admit that she is no longer just a TikToker.
These TikTok posts show us how people view her the way her producers would want, leading to more people listening to her music, which would be seen as the dominant reading (Stuart Hall). However, there will still be people who hate what she does due to her initially being a TikTok influencer, which would be the oppositional reading.
Charli D’Amelio has gone in a different direction and has landed on Broadway. Initially, this had some negative reactions on TikTok, as people believed she did not deserve her spot as she was only a TikToker. Still, slowly, audiences began to realise she is a great dancer and deserves her place on Broadway. This shows how audience views can change to being positive. People magazine asked how she was handling online negativity (Lyttle, Z. 2024), and Charli responded positively, meaning she is not letting this affect her.
The comment section chooses to be supportive, mentioning how good her dancing has always been. However, in the beginning, the audience followed the more oppositional reading as people did not like that a TikToker got onto Broadway when they believed there were more deserving people.
It is interesting to note how audiences react differently to these influencers as Addison Rae’s music career was taken more positively, gaining the support of the audience, which is what her team would want, while Charli has always had a lot of hate for doing the things she is passionate about. However, people are now accepting the narrative that both of them are more than just TikTok influencers.
References:
Hall, S., Morley, D. and Chen, K.-H. (1995) Stuart Hall: Critical dialogues. New York: Routledge.
Lyttle, Z. (2024) Charli D’Amelio is blocking out critics by leaning on ‘Love and support’ from & Juliet Costars ahead of Broadway debut (exclusive), People.com. Available at: https://people.com/charli-d-amelio-is-blocking-out-critics-ahead-of-broadway-debut-in-and-juliet-exclusive-8736326 (Accessed: 17 November 2024).
I enjoyed how you compared two influencers who are both female and uploaded the same type of content. Do you think that there was a quicker positive response to Addison because of the support of Charli XCX?
Yes definitely, as she is supported by the media as a singer, which made people want to support Addison in her singing journey. The fact they sang together helped her media presence.
Hey Guste!
Well done on your blog post! You have explored the audiences evolving perceptions on Charlie and Addison’s post-tiktok careers really well and it aligns with Stuart Halls theory perfectly. One of the things I loved is how you highlighted the oppositional and dominant reading, its is exciting to read it laid out that way. One thing I would’ve enjoyed to read through your blog is why audiences might initially feel the need to resist their new ventures?
Hi! Great post. I really like how you used such a current example (Charli’s Broadway career) as a way to explain the encoding and decoding theory as we see it in action every day through social media, particularly through comment sections, as you mentioned as they are a clear example of users embodying the dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings in response to different content. Do you think that people would have responded differently to both Charli and Addison’s new careers should they have not started on social media first?
Hey! Love this post. I loved your comparison of how audiences perceive Addison Rae and Charli DAmelio. The distinction between them being viewed as relatable versus aspirational was particularly intriguing. It might be worth mentioning how TikTok’s algorithm plays a role in shaping these views. Still a great post.