Reneé Rapp’s “BITE ME” album cover
Known for her role of Leighton Murray in “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and, most recently, the “Mean Girls” musical, Reneé Rapp has been rising through the ranks of popularity. With her recently released album, “BITE ME,” her fame has grown substantially. Released on Aug. 1, Rapp’s second studio album has been available for nearly 2 months now, and the album has only increased in popularity.
The tracklist was announced subtly, with Rapp having a “what’s in my bag” TikTok video with every item including the name of a song on it. With such a unique way of releasing the list, fans went crazy in the comments, many even requesting that some items be made into official merchandise, especially the “At Least I’m Hot” carabiner.
The album varies widely in its themes and ideas, with some songs being full of sass and attitude, and others being incredibly sad and easy to cry to. From “Leave Me Alone,” the introductory song of the album, to “Sometimes,” one of the universally best songs on the album, Rapp sings about seemingly every emotion one could experience at her age in life.
“Leave Me Alone”
“Leave Me Alone,” the first single released and the album’s first track, is full of spunk and attitude. Being one of the songs that gained the most attention on social media, this track included many catchy lyrics, including “Sign a hundred NDAs, but I still say something,” and “My ex walked in, and my other ex with her; leave me alone, b*tch, I wanna have fun; The three of us together that’s a real tongue-twister.” These lyrics clearly show Rapp’s carefree attitude, which she is aiming to express in the entirety of the album, making this song a perfect first track.
“Leave Me Alone” was also an incredibly strategic first single to release – it ties in very well to both the album’s name and the overall tone of the album. The unique part of this song, in particular, is the amount of repetition in it; Rapp repeats the line “leave me alone, b*tch, I wanna have fun” a total of 12 times, after every line of each verse. The repetition of this line allows the song to put out a very snarky and confident message – Rapp sings about the desire to live her own life and not have anyone else controlling her.
“Why Is She Still Here?,” “Sometimes,” and “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore”
These three tracks share a common idea of being the “side chick” in a relationship, and knowing your partner is choosing you second to the person they are in an overall committed relationship with. Because of the theme of cheating throughout these songs, the backlash Rapp received for this music was heavy. Critics targeted her “enthusiastic” and “proud” perspective on being a side chick; however, the lyrics of every song suggest an entirely different perspective.
“Why Is She Still Here?” opens with “You can tell me you don’t love her; But you should probably tell her too,” showing immediately that Rapp is not at all taking a proud perspective on the events. The chorus follows with, “What else more do you need?; When you got me right here.” This theme of struggling with the idea of your partner being in a committed relationship with someone else is very prevalent throughout this album.
“Sometimes” also features heartbreaking lyrics relating to this struggle. “I’m tired of being a good time; It’s killing me having you sometimes; If you still want her, then leave me here by myself,” she writes. This theme again carries on through “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore,” where she sings, “And I’m not supposed to wonder if I should be yours.” The vocals on these three tracks in particular are by far the most impressive. Listeners can easily hear Rapp’s raw emotion through her voice, and her astonishing voice only encourages the listener to feel that emotion as well. Throughout all three of these tracks, Rapp explores her emotions regarding being someone’s second “backup” option, detailing it as a difficult and heartbreaking experience. Though she has received backlash for these songs and their topics, she has spoken up about these experiences in the past and is continuing to move past those events.
“At Least I’m Hot,” “Kiss It Kiss It,” and “Shy”
While Rapp definitely utilized this album to release emotional music regarding her personal experiences, she also used a few songs to express her sexuality. Using quite explicit language, Rapp explores her sexuality while also making multiple songs that trended very heavily on social media.
These songs are much more similar in their sounds to “Leave Me Alone,” with varying themes regarding her sexuality. All three tracks have a very confident tone to them, with the first chorus line being, “But if I can’t be happy; Then at least I’m hot.” This song really does show Rapp’s confidence in herself, similarly to “Leave Me Alone” and her carefree attitude towards life. “At Least I’m Hot” also features Rapp’s girlfriend, singer Towa Bird, in the second verse. Fans went crazy over this, especially because it was not announced in any way that Bird would be on the album before its release.
“Kiss It Kiss It” was one of the songs that was teased prior to its full release, and this song likely exploded in popularity because of it. Rapp posted many TikTok videos using clips of the song, exciting her fans and hyping them up for the release. Additionally, “Shy” was performed live on Saturday Night Live almost immediately after the album’s release. Rapp’s use of the media to promote herself and her music is impressive, and there is no doubt that this strategy will continue to work in her favor.
While this is only Rapp’s second studio album, it has done wonders for her career. The amount of variety in the themes, tones, and topics in just the 12 tracks on “BITE ME” is incredible, and it truly shows her versatility as an upcoming artist. Rapp is, without a doubt, going to become very successful if she continues to market herself and perform as she has done in the past.