Renee Rapp showcases her own way of storytelling through her powerhouse vocals and vulnerable lyrics in her debut album Snow Angel. The fan-favorite actress who starred as Regina George in the Broadway production of Mean Girls: The Musical, is telling her own story through her passion for music.
A part of being vulnerable in music has to do with the craft of writing, which Rapp credits her theater experience as a skill in song-writing. “I think that amazing theater and amazing storytelling, whether it be on stage or screen, is incredible writing,” she said. Musical theater has had a large impact on her writing and she hopes it continues to do so. Growing up as a theater kid, and being a fan of Pop, R&B, and Hip-Hop music, Rapps’s bundle of influences makes her a powerful songwriter. The lyrics on this album manage to showcase Rapp’s funny, unfiltered personality while still remaining vulnerable.
Renee Rapp is known for having powerful vocals with ballads such as the title track and In the Kitchen from her debut EP Everything to Everyone. Ballads on this album include Gemini Moon, which has a really nice transition into the title track Snow Angel.
While remaining emotional in her lyrics, Pretty Girls is described as Rapps’ most up-tempo song to date, but it is still sad in her eyes. The song taps into difficulties in dating as a queer woman. “It’s a situation where I’m out and this straight girl who’s a mutual friend is like ‘you know if I wanted to I totally would’,” Rapp explains. It channels the frustration of being fetishized, but also feeds into the attraction of the Pretty Girls, ignoring all the red flags. This is illustrated in the lyric, “You think that I’d be flattered, It’s pathetic ‘cause you’re right.”
Correlating tracks on the album to her astrology chart, she feels that her Capricorn sun is represented by Poison Poison, which was rewritten multiple times before the finished product that made the album. The original version of Poison Poison received constructive criticism from friend, collaborator, and singer-songwriter Alexander 23. The concern was the original version was ‘too blatant’ and was reworked to what made the album. It has angsty lyrics talking about “the worst person on earth” with a mid-tempo somewhat relaxing beat which sounds like it wouldn’t work but somehow it does. Throughout the album, there are elements of different types of guitar, which makes the collection of songs blend together while still remaining different from each other.
Snow Angel is out now on all streaming platforms. Catch Renee Rapp on the Snow Much Fun Tour beginning in mid-September.
