The stage musical update of Mean Girls, and the film adaptation, pushed Reneé Rapp into the public eye. She played queen bitch Regina George. She’s become well-known for her forthright public persona, especially since coming out as a lesbian last year.
Her second album, Bite Me, is a glorious celebration of her sexuality; bright, witty pop that’s loudly lesbian and full of vim. The most immediate material is sensually alert, but playful too. There’s plenty of getting it on, much enthusiastic cunnilingus. Notable in the latter department is “Kiss It”, a catchy 4/4 yacht-rock-tinted club bouncer wherein Rapp has a 40-hour bedroom session with a pick-up. She sounds like she’s going to explode with sheer, visceral pleasure (“I think we almost made a baby/I mean we can’t/But we came so close”). Rapp’s joy is vivacious.
Bite Me is bubblier and more upbeat than her 2023 debut, Snow Angel. It’s also more musically varied and exciting, running the gamut from sassy opener “Leave Me Alone”, a party girl banger that’s part Kesha and part Joan Jett, to the snarkily chatty, Dua Lipa-ish future-disco smoothery of “At Least I’m Hot”, to simpler, guitar-based love song slowies such as “I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone” and “I Can’t Have you Around Me Anymore”.
Her lyrics are cheeky, more substantial than most femme-pop. “Now everyone hates you except, of course, my lawyer/ Because you spoil him, girl, but here comes a spoiler/ The show's really over, if you’re looking for closure/ You’ve got a better shot with God than you do with me,” runs the downtempo, piano-backed “That’s So Funny”.
Here and there is too much 4 Non Blondes-ish stadium bombast for this writer, but even then the tunes are intact. While there’s filler along the way, the best of Bite Me is an object lesson in contemporary pop songwriting.
Below: watch the video for "Mad" by Reneé Rapp
