The old Reneé Rapp can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because now, six-odd years after starting to make headlines for her starring roles in Broadway’s production of “Mean Girls” and HBO’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” Rapp has entirely cast her gaze away from the acting world in favor of a career in the music industry. At her recent concert in Sterling Heights, one thing was made clear amid the intricate stage production and her powerhouse vocals: Rapp has completed her full transformation into a bona fide pop star, and she’s not planning to go anywhere.
After a perilous journey to the Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre (the highways in Metro Detroit are no joke), I arrived just in time for a tasteful set from opener Syd, who took the stage promptly and performed a combination of original songs and covers, including a rendition of “Intimidated” by Kaytranada. The chill electronica of the song encapsulated Syd’s musical universe well, which is often steeped in dreamy synths and understated vocals. Later in the night, Rapp went on to say that she’s a huge fan of Syd personally, and her influence can be easily felt in Rapp’s introspective lyrics and R&B sound.
Suddenly, the screens on either side of the stage came to life and began playing a short video displaying numerous versions of Rapp deep in argument: There was a brunette Reneé dressed in a suit; a jock Reneé with a backwards baseball cap; a Reneé whose outfit recalls one of the most iconic scenes of “Mean Girls.” Finally, Reneé as we know her appeared, wearing a simple blue T-shirt and screaming for everyone to “shut the fuck up!” before getting up and attacking the camera.
Everything went dark for a moment before we saw a shot of her being interrogated for this crime. Her response? A smug proclamation of her need to be left alone. Suddenly, the curtain dropped and the real Reneé appeared on stage, expressing the same desire in song form by diving straight into a performance of her recent single “Leave Me Alone.” It felt like a rebirth. She’d finally killed off all these past versions of herself and a new version of the singer — clad in black leather and accompanied by roaring guitars — has risen from the ashes.
Rapp’s jaw-dropping vocal abilities are what originally brought her into the public eye during her days in the musical theatre industry, and they remain today the most dazzling aspect of her music. Her voice at the show proved to be just as spectacular as ever, a shape-shifting beast flitting effortlessly from low, sultry R&B to gorgeous falsetto to what was practically screaming during certain climactic moments. One of the biggest highlights of the performance was her rendition of “Snow Angel,” the title track of her 2023 album of the same name. A song with a slow-burning killer buildup, the song started simply with light piano and ended with Rapp belting flawlessly at the reaches of her upper register over heavy-hitting guitar. It’s an emotional song to begin with, but Rapp poured so much pathos into the live rendition that it might be difficult to listen to the studio recording again.
Rapp’s setlist drew heavily from her newest album, the tour’s eponymous Bite Me. She performed all 12 of its tracks, which approach a relatively pure-pop sound interspersed with R&B and rock influences. The songs that leaned away from the classic pop-song formula and into these niches actually proved to be the highlights of the show: The grungy guitar echoing the melody of “Leave Me Alone” has undeniable bite, and the swinging melody and frequent vocal runs of “Why Is She Still Here” are catchy and unique. While listening to some of the other material from the album, however, it was hard not to feel like her talents were being underutilized: Songs like “At Least I’m Hot” and “Kiss It Kiss It” are pleasant enough on the ears, but didn’t do much to stand out from any other pop song you might hear on the radio. After witnessing her vocal and songwriting abilities firsthand on the aforementioned highlights, I found myself missing such dynamic moments on tracks like these.
With a lesser concentration on material from 2023’s Snow Angel and her 2022 EP Everything to Everyone, which have produced some of Rapp’s most popular songs, it’s clear that she is taking control of her musical universe — she’s not here to play her biggest hits or cater to an audience’s desires, but rather remind us that it’s her show we’re attending, and the music she wants to play will be what we listen to. Rapp is focused on the present and the future of her career and would rather sacrifice some oldies-but-goodies than bend to her audience’s nostalgic whims.
The most blatant illustration of this decision occurred at the end of the show, when she began performing “Not My Fault” (a favorite among fans and her highest-charting single) only to stop halfway through and express her open dislike of the song. Claiming to be tired of performing it, she started the band back up without finishing the track and concluded the show with “At Least I’m Hot,” a lesser-known cut from Bite Me. Given that “Not My Fault” was born from her “Mean Girls” days, it felt like the ultimate rejection of what everyone wants her to be — the theatre kid, movie star, teen-drama character. Reneé is finally at a point in her career where she is completely forging her own path forward, and her concert in Sterling Heights made evident both her thirst for pop stardom and her unwillingness to compromise on the way up.
Daily Arts Contributor Max Janevic can be reached at janevicm@umich.edu.
