Words by Sophia Campanella
With twelve new tracks, Reneé Rapp has proven again why she is a pop powerhouse in her sophomore album BITE ME. Through the album, Reneé embraces vulnerability and facing yourself, realizing what you want and what you need.
Reneé Rapp’s rapid success may seem sudden, but it is not surprising. Her first big appearance was at the tenth annual Jimmy Awards at 18 years old. She won “Best Performance by an Actress” for her portrayal of Sandra in Big Fish. Only a year after her win, it was announced that Reneé would be taking over the role of Regina George in the Broadway musical Mean Girls. She stayed with the Broadway company up until 2021, when the show had to close due to COVID regulations. With being out of work due to the global pandemic, Reneé Rapp started working on her real passion: making music. She released her first EP, Everything To Everyone, in November 2022, and her first album, Snow Angel, in August 2023. The album performed exceptionally well for a debut, reaching number 7 on the UK charts for three weeks.
Though Reneé Rapp’s second album, BITE ME, has mixed reviews, it is already proving to be her best work to date, as Reneé has scored her first number one on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, selling 47,000 copies in the first week. The album has also started at number 3 on the overall Billboard 200, which is Reneé’s first top 10. Even though Reneé has stayed true to her carefree pop sound from Snow Angel, her new album BITE ME has a more mature and rich sound. Reneé is still filling her albums with ballads, but every song on the album has a different purpose and meaning. It truly feels like every song was meant to be on the album.
The album starts with the fun lead single, “Leave Me Alone.” Through the songs’ silly and casual lyrics, Reneé expresses her desire to do her work on her own time. In a 2023 Rolling Stone interview, she discussed feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work that came with taking on every project. At the time, she had already filmed HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, toured the country for her EP, and was starting to film the movie production of Mean Girls, while starting her debut album. She was exhausted. The album opener sets the scene for the rest of the album, as the line “Leave me alone bitch, I wanna have fun” is repeated throughout every verse.
BITE ME features many upbeat hits, one of them being the second single from the album “Mad.” The single is about Reneé wanting to have fun in her relationship, but her partner is wasting time focusing on trivial things. She sings in the chorus, “Hey, you / All of the time you waisted being mad / We could have been cute and we could have been stupid Hey, you / All of the time you waisted in your head / We could have been having sex / You could have been gettin’ all of my time / But you were being mad” Some other upbeat tracks off the album include “Kiss It Kiss It,” “At Least I’m Hot,” which features a cameo of recording artist and Reneé Rapp’s partner Towa Bird, and “Shy,” which Reneé performed on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert the night of BITE MEs’ release.
Even with the upbeat pop singles from the album, BITE ME does not fall short on Reneé’s classic ballads. One of the fan favorite ballads is “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore,” which is about a powerful relationship Reneé is developing, but is unrealistic to pursue. Another fan favorite ballad is “That’s So Funny,” where Reneé Rapp reflects on a past relationship where her partner avoided communication and confrontation. One reason this track is so popular among Reneé’s fans is that the lyrics directly talk about Reneé’s past professional career and friends. In the first verse, where Reneé sings “Alyah said ‘be careful, girl, you don’t really know her” she is referring to her friend Alyah Chanelle Scott, who Reneé worked with on The Sex Lives of College Girls. In the second verse of the track, Reneé sings, “The show’s really over if you’re looking for closure / You got a better shot with God than you do with me,” which is likely referring to The Sex Lives of College Girls’ cancellation after Reneé left the show in the third season.
BITE ME is available now on all streaming platforms. Riding on the success of her brand new album, Reneé Rapp will be touring across the United States on her BITE ME TOUR, including playing notable venues like Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum, as well as headlining All Things Go Music Festival in Toronto with Kacey Musgraves. VIP packages are also available on Reneé’s website.
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