The Rise Of The Low-Key Pop Star

We love an extra moment. We extolled the virtue of Miley Cyrus’ diva-dom, and in eager anticipation of the debut of her pop-opera-film extravaganza, Something Beautiful, have been eating up her looks in each video. Her custom and archival Mugler pieces are true pop confections meant for a Tina-Turner-slash-David-Bowie album, and require maximum effort to pull off. While she’s holding down the high-fashion fort, the other pop girls releasing music in 2025 — Addison Rae, Lorde, and Haim, to name our favorites — are sticking to the basics and keeping it decidedly comfy and casual.

Addison is the Y2Chaos princess of the bunch, bringing disparate color schemes and highlighter-pink hair back into the zeitgeist. She wore a purple American Apparel hoodie in her “Headphones On” music video, and for her surprise appearance at Charli XCX’s Coachella set, she wore an homage to Minnie Mouse in the form of a custom Pink catsuit designed by Miss Claire Sullivan, who previously outfitted her for the VMAs. The deft styling by Dara with latex finger gloves and chintzy jewelry kept it from leaning too cutesy and made it feel, well, chaotic. It’s also easy to slip in and out of (and do a guttural scream in), and her off-duty fashion also hints at making casual pieces feel special with the use of era clashing and carefree attitude.

Where Addison is maximalist comfort, the brunettes (Lorde and the Haim trio) are channeling pre-Y2Chaos in no-nonsense basics. Haim’s “Relationships” video saw them in ‘90s Helmut Lang and sheer skirts, with a dose of modern-day trends like ballet flats. The key, though, is nary a pattern in sight, and color coordination to the max. Nothing custom here, just great pulls that melt into the background. And yes, as Charli predicted during her Weekend 2 set, we’re going to have a Lorde summer. The elusive chanteuse is stripping things back even further with the little she’s teased this era, with her lead single “What Was That” dropping on April 25. The first TikTok and subsequent Instagrams show Lorde at her most dialed down, leaving behind the beachy vibe of Solar Power and embracing baggy T-shirts, even baggier pants, and the already-being-recreated duct-tape Balenciaga shoes. Her Coachella ‘fit to perform with Charli was comically basic, in workwear pants and a gray T-shirt.

Don’t mistake this casual streak with not trying: If anything, it takes a masterful and dedicated eye to pick the T-shirt to go with the jeans and the flats. Haim enlisted costume designer Erin Benach for their video, and Lorde is reportedly working with Taylor McNeill, the vision behind Timothée Chalamet’s artfully cool awards-season streak. The teams they’re working with are intentional and crafting worlds for them that are, yes, expertly edited, but easily replicable and speak to a larger audience than otherworldly couture can. It’s also logistically easier and comfortable, making a statement without a corset digging into their backs. We’re ready for whatever they have, and ready to stomp around Washington Square Park à la Lorde in easy, breezy fashion.