Reneé Rapp admits her sexiest songs are often 'really depressing'
The 25-year-old singer-and-actress says she is often misconceived as a "confident" person because of the positive spin on her woes in her lyrics, admitting she is actually feeling " depressed and borderline don't want to be alive" on the track At Least I'm Hot, from her latest LP BITE ME.
She told GRAMMY.com: "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."
However, making the album made the Mean Girls star - who is in a relationship with fellow musician Towa Bird - realise how much she loves her life.
She continued: "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 realised 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."
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Perth Now
09-08-2025
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Reneé Rapp admits her sexiest songs are often 'really depressing'
Reneé Rapp insists her songs are actually "really depressing" - despite being "sexy" on the surface. The 25-year-old singer-and-actress says she is often misconceived as a "confident" person because of the positive spin on her woes in her lyrics, admitting she is actually feeling " depressed and borderline don't want to be alive" on the track At Least I'm Hot, from her latest LP BITE ME. She told "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." However, making the album made the Mean Girls star - who is in a relationship with fellow musician Towa Bird - realise how much she loves her life. She continued: "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 realised 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."
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I'm uninterested in media training, says Renee Rapp
Renee Rapp is "really uninterested" in media training. The 25-year-old star is well-known for being outspoken in media interviews, and Renee insists that she has no intention of changing her approach. During an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Renee explained: "There's such an adjustment to — what a 'pick me' thing to say, but there's such an adjustment to having cameras on you in your conversations and in your personal life in a way. It just inherently is an adjustment. "I was like, I am truly just doing what I would be doing and talking how I would be talking except for being filmed or doing something or putting it out there, putting it in a song, putting it in whatever. "And then to like see it back is really kind of confusing because then you start to perceive yourself in a way that like other people perceive you. However, you'll never be able to see yourself how other people see you." Renee's team have actively encouraged her to be more careful with her words in media interviews. However, the actress has no plans to change her ways. She said: "I feel like I feel like people have tried [to change her]. "They were trying to kind of coach me into, like, what to say and what not to say. And it was kind of like the second I realised it, I totally just tapped out and I was like, 'Oh, I'm really uninterested in hearing this.'" Meanwhile, Renee previously admitted to being "very sensitive" and "protective" of herself. The actress - who played Regina George in the Mean Girls Broadway musical - told InStyle: "My biggest fear is being misunderstood. I'm a very passionate person. I'm very sensitive. I am protective." Renee believes people often mistake her sensitive nature for her "just being a b****". The movie star said: "I think that sometimes people can construe that as me just being a b****. "I just have very big emotions and I feel very hard. It was really hard to live like that when I was a kid. It was very difficult. Living was exhausting."
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Reneé Rapp finds people's assumptions about he personal life 'jarring'
Reneé Rapp has had to learn to accept that people will make "assumptions" about her from her lyrics. The 25-year-old singer-and-actress is open about her vulnerabilities in her music, however, she admits it can be "jarring" when so much hearsay is spread across the web about her personal life. She told "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." She continued: "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." The Mean Girls star's second studio album, BITE ME, sees the star get candid about burnout, mental health, fame and dealing with haters. At the end of the day, Rapp - who is dating fellow musician Towa Bird - is grateful she's attracting attention, even if it's not always positive. Rapp added: "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 bull****, then do it. You're chatting about me."
