Bite Me by Reneé Rapp
'Bite Me' by Reneé Rapp
If Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter often present themselves as pop-star sex kittens, then Reneé Rapp presents herself as a pop-star puma: a full-grown wildcat. On her second long-player, Bite Me, she purrs, hisses, meows for attention, and, when on the prowl, pounces with sleek assurance.
That assurance has already seen Rapp slinking across a Broadway stage and movie screens everywhere else as queen bitch Regina George in recent musical adaptations of the 2004 movie Mean Girls. And while the opening track of Bite Me, “Leave Me Alone,” favors the party-girl snarl of prime Kesha, every other track parades her vocal prowess.
Not just her vocal prowess, though: co-writing every song and working with a small passel of established producers—especially Omer Fedi, who’s helped Machine Gun Kelly and SZA top the charts—Rapp also parades her knowledge of and skill with the lacquered surfaces and saturated palettes of modern pop.
Because modern pop frequently remodels older pop, “Good Girl” exhumes canned handclaps and synthesizer patterns that Kim Carnes and Laura Branigan might have used, and the vrooming bassline and scuffed-up drums of “Mad” wouldn’t be jarringly out of place on a Liz Phair single from her corporate-glam phase or an Alanis Morissette “rock” hit.
Rapp gets her fingers sticky with influences: “Why Is She Still Here?” updates R&B desperation a la Rihanna, right down to the melismatic melodrama; “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore” is a softly grungy downer with Halsey style; and “At Least I’m Hot” siphons enough gas from Kylie Minogue’s current disco groove to get Rapp and her duet (and romantic) partner, Towa Bird, dizzy.
Inside all of that, Rapp gets it on enthusiastically, whether submerging into the climactic moment or accusing a lover of betrayal. Combining her acting and singing talents, she is both fierce feline and cool cat on Bite Me, and she is certainly never boring.
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