Last week was an incredible one for queers and sapphics all around. First off, with, at long last, the release of The Subway by the new kid on the block, Chappel Roan, and for the punk-rock rebirth of Ms. Reneé Rapp with her second album, BITE ME.

With Broadway-level pipes and with a Sabrina Carpenter adjacent charisma, the blond singer-songwriter started to become famous with the musical version of Mean Girls, where she interpreted the iconic role of Regina George and showed her multifaceted talents. She then became fan-favourite Leighton in Sex Lives of College Girls, an HBO Max show where four girls experienced friendship, parties and heartbreak. She departed the show at the beginning of the third season to focus on her music. And although I will always miss Leighton, Rapp’s is showing a lot of promise as a world-dominating pop star.

Everything to Everyone, released in 2022, showed her pen and her vocals with grace, delivering devastating ballads like “Kitchen” and “Don’t Tell My Mom” and also the beginnings of her rock sound with songs like “Colorado”. 

Snow Angel, her proper debut, continued on the R&B centric sounds but experimenting with more genres. The standout here is the title track, which has a similar vibe to “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, starting as a gut-wrenching pop ballad and slowly building into an arena-rock anthem. However, there is a mix of everything. All good songs, but without a clear sound or identity, other than the specifics of her voice.

BITE ME feels like a proper evolution for Rapp, because it focuses mainly on guitars and fun or piano and devastation. Or, like in the case, “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore”, one the best tracks of the collection, a little bit of both.  

“Leave me alone, bitch, I want to have fun” is such an unapologetically fun yet aggressive way to introduce the album, completely in tune with the Rapp we see on TV and at interviews. Authentic, whether people like it or not. And the journey of these songs, delving in topics like infidelity and sexual desire, follows that tune. It’s refreshing to hear stars say things as clear as “All of the time you wasted being mad we could’ve been having sex” without any metaphors or coyness. 

Yet Rapp’s a complex person, with a vulnerable heart beneath such a fierce exterior. It’s what makes her so likeable: she invites you both to laugh and cry with her. Because the ballads here, “Sometimes” and the ironically titled “That’s So Funny”, really sting, especially when lyrics like “if you’re looking for closure, you have a better shot with God than you do with me” hit you in the face. And the pop-rock moments are so catchy and unique, they are practically hypnotic. Credit where credit is due: the middle stretch of the album, “Kiss It Kiss It”, “Good Girl”,  “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore” and “Shy” are creme de la creme, because they show Rapp at her most fun, vulnerable and confident. Good luck on getting the chorus of “Good Girl” out of your head. The weakest song is definitely “I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone”, because it doesn’t feel like bringing something new nor to the overall album’s narrative or sonic palette, but it’s still enjoyable.

Reneé Rapp is definitely an artist people are missing out on. But BITE ME, heavily influenced on stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Chappel Roan, has the potential to change that, mixing her particular sensibilities with commercial appeal. Don’t leave her alone, she wants to have fun! 

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