How ‘BITE ME’ Helped Reneé Rapp Love Herself — And Her Life

The world couldn’t get enough of Reneé Rapp after her August 2023 debut LP, Snow Angel, sold-out Snow Hard Feelings Tour, and starring turn as Regina George in the 2024 Mean Girls musical film. But as more people wanted more of her, the actress-turned-pop star realized she was losing herself. So, she silenced external demand in order to listen to her inner voice — and tell everyone to BITE ME.

The fiery title of Rapp’s sophomore album, out now via Interscope Records, mirrors the new level of confidence she’s unleashed. Snow Angel showed her what her artistry could be, but BITE ME sees Rapp fully embracing herself, flaws and all. She’s as assured as she is vulnerable, as funny as she is poignant. And as the project’s name insists, she’s not looking for anyone’s approval.

BITE ME is the result of Rapp establishing hard boundaries and asking herself what she wanted in her personal life — and in turn, finding her community and falling in love (with British guitarist/singer-songwriter Towa Bird). Her collaborators helped, too, with Snow Angel executive producer Alexander 23 by her side for 11 of the 12 tracks, and pop masterminds Ryan Tedder, Omer Fedi, Julian Bunetta, and Ali Tamposi all contributing.

The album sees Rapp navigating different relationship dynamics, from flirtatious indulgences (“Shy”) and lopsided heartbreak (“Sometimes”) to emotional intimacy (“I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore”) and betrayal (“That’s So Funny”). She doubles down on the raw honesty she displayed on Snow Angel, leaning further into her shameless sexuality and addressing her insecurities and struggles head-on.   

While Rapp says that the album was inspired in part by Alanis Morissette‘s opus, Jagged Little Pill (“it’s so honest and angry… it really resonates with me”), BITE ME ultimately pulls from the personal growth she’s experienced in the last two years. And when she listens to the project herself, she wholeheartedly feels it.

“Snow Angel was a test run, and BITE ME is a body of work,” Rapp tells GRAMMY.com. “When I finished making [BITE ME], I was so excited. It just felt so good. I would cry because I was so happy and so proud of what I made and what we did. I try to hold onto that as much as I can, even when it’s really hard to.”

Below, in her own words, Rapp explains the inspirations behind BITE ME, from leaning on her friends after a tumultuous breakup to letting people say whatever they’re going to say.

I’m perceived very differently from how I view myself and how I actually am in my head. That’s always so confusing to me. Everybody is like, “Oh, she’s so confident and embraces everything. Wow, what a sister!” But I don’t feel that way wholeheartedly.

I think there was a lot of admission on this album. There was a lot of admission of my being hurt, feeling not good enough, and feeling like the second choice. Even in the songs that are so irreverent and sexy, like “At Least I’m Hot.” If you want to boil the song down to what it is, it’s like, Well, I’m depressed and borderline don’t want to be alive, but at least I’m sexy. I wanted to make something that was a positive takeaway, or at least a cute takeaway, from that feeling.

If you boil down any of my songs or lyrics on paper, they’re really depressing. Even the ones that you think are irreverent, empowered, and inspiring are actually depressing. They suck. They actually suck.

I used to feel like such a little freak. People would constantly just be like, “Ooh, that’s too much.” Or, “Oh my God, why would you do that? Why would you say that?” And then, I realized that I just needed better friends. I needed people around me who didn’t want to put me in a box and make me smaller so that they were comfortable. That’s kind of always been the case with me, and I think it’s the case for a lot of artists and creatives. You often get tossed into this little pile of being too much, too emotional, or too awkward.

[Making this album] was the first time I liked my life. I was like, oh, f—. I love my life. I love my girlfriend. I love my friends. I love everything that I’ve done. I love being alive, even if I’m not happy all the time. I really felt that throughout the making of this album — at least the last seven or eight months, when it started to come together.

I relied on my friends by seeing my friends more. I wanted to see my friends more. I wanted to explore. I wanted to travel. I wanted to go and have fun with my friends. I wanted to not bury myself in work as much. I wanted to be choosy with who I surrounded myself with. I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend. I wanted to spend time with myself. I wanted to be alone. My whole life was just work for such a long time. Then, I gained this incredible personal life that, I think, made my work life better.

My friends coached me through a terrible relationship and breakup. I was in a relationship where I was kept from my friends and the people around me for a really long time. My friends saw me through that and didn’t judge me for it. They weren’t like, “Well, f— you for being with this person and being away from us!” Instead, they embraced me and waited it out until I saw the light.

That made a really big difference in this album and also in my closeness with them. I realized that they were there to see me through a controlling relationship. That informed so much of the album and the way I spoke about it and wrote songs.

I can always tell where someone’s asking [about my sexuality] from. Sometimes, a lot of straight people just ask me to be baity. They think it’s this trendy, cute little thing now. And I’m like, well, you guys are so f—ing late on the bandwagon. Of course, now you want to chat about it. But not all the time. I mean, it’s something that I love about myself.

I’m so loud about it because, no matter how out and all that I am, it’s still not great to be out where I grew up or where my girlfriend grew up. Gay marriage is not legal where my girlfriend is from.

There’s casual advocacy in just existence. In some ways, a lot of people’s existence in the gay and queer community, and the trans community especially, is rebellion enough. But I also think that there has to be loudness. There has to be aggression, and there has to be solace, and there has to be warmth to it. It has to be everything. It takes all forms. I don’t think one is good enough without the other.

“That’s So Funny” is a good one because of the second verse: “Now everyone hates you/ Except, of course, my lawyer/ ‘Cause you spoiled him, girl/ But here comes the spoiler.” I’m talking about something that was just absolutely so terrible for me, and I’m also making a joke that, well, my lawyer loves you because I had to spend so much on bank and legal fees.

I like to approach things with a bit of deep, dark sarcasm and humor. That’s kind of all over the album, but [“That’s So Funny”] was probably the most juxtaposed way of doing that.

Bro, every day, we would write a song that I felt was amazing, and I would feel proud of myself for two seconds, and then I’d move on. To celebrate is a really hard thing for me to do when I constantly have the source in my head that it could be better, and it’s not enough. But that’s not specific to this album. That’s specific to my whole life — my whole life artistically and just in every f—ing way. Every f—ing way. I was taught that there’s always room for improvement.

I think it works for me, and it also makes me chronically sad. I’m doing my best to try and not live my life that way. I’m finding it really difficult, and I’ve always found it difficult. I used to think that it was what made me great, but now, I’m starting to think that it’s making me sad. That’s something I am really trying to work on, but it’s a part of me. So, maybe I just have to learn how to live with it and make peace with it.

My favorite song is “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore.” It just is the perfect song to me. The feeling of it is amazing. The tone of the guitar is so my alley. It’s just so heartbreaking and pure, and it’s my musical taste.

There’s nothing I would change in that song. I have no notes, and I haven’t since the day we wrote it. I remember being like, This is f—ing fantastic. If another artist wrote that song, I would be so f—ing livid that I didn’t write it.

It’s important to have somebody who loves every part of you in the room. Alexander [23] loves the things about me that I’m not able to love about myself. He’ll champion the parts of me that I think are crazy, and he believes in me when I don’t believe in myself.

I live in my head, so I get lost every 10 minutes. I’m constantly second-guessing everything I’m doing all the time. So, it’s important for somebody who knows me so well to steer me back on track. Like [with the track] “Sometimes,” I had to get thrown off a cliff for that song to make the album. I mean, it’s really beautiful, so I get it.

A writing influence — and just an influence on who I am as a person and how I speak — is my dad. He’s just so sure of his faults and his accomplishments at the same time.

He’s had a really, really difficult life. He has suffered addiction, incredible loss, and just basically gone through everything. I think it’s made him such a complex and interesting person to have as a role model. And I think it’s been so lucky for me because of the way he talks. The way he carries himself with such depth and sadness, but also real love for being alive, protection of people, and sees the value in everything. My dad was a big inspiration.

My parents really love this album, which is so great because I value their opinion and seek their approval.

Blocking Out Public Opinion

As much as I’m grateful and excited that so many people are tuned [into my career] now, and want to be a part of this world that we’ve created, it’s also really jarring. I think there’s a line that a lot of people cross. I also think I’m very outspoken and loud about what I want and what I don’t. In a way — in a positive way — it’s also made a lot of people in this fandom want to be more like that in their personal lives. But then, sometimes, that gets kind of ricocheted onto me, and then that doesn’t feel as amazing. But I can still applaud it.

I’ve had to learn who to trust in my work life and my personal life, and that’s a lengthy, sad process. No matter who you are, you get older and you learn more about yourself. Your business expands, and you learn more about yourself. I’m just doing it on a very public scale, and the stakes feel high.

Everyone has an opinion about my life, and that’s okay. It’s cool. I’ve grown to be at a place where I’m fine with that, but it’s weird. Do I wish that I could do a deep dive and explain every single lyric and every single thing about my life? Sometimes, yes. But I also don’t owe people that, so I’m not going to waste breath because you’re not entitled to all of those details in my life.

I’m not here to judge that because it’s pop music. You take what you want [from this album]. If you want to go ahead and make assumptions and run with that bulls—, then do it. You’re chatting about me.