If you ever wanted to know who is on your favorite singer's playlist, or what albums inspired the latest “it girl” the most, tune in for Marie Claire’s resident music franchise Listen Up. In this interview series, we ask musicians about their listening habits and the specific records that informed their taste—and inherently their journey as an artist.
Reneé Rapp will be the first to admit that working on her sophomore album Bite Me “was a bitch.”
“The first eight or nine months of writing this album was just me crashing out every day,” Rapp tells Marie Claire ahead of the record’s August 1 release. The 25-year-old singer/actress recalls feeling “slumpy” after a tumultuous period that spans the release of her 2023 debut Snow Angel, her departure from Sex Lives of College Girls, and her press run for Mean Girls. She explains, “When you want it so bad, sometimes those anxieties turn into a desperate need for control, and you are just being your worst critic and not allowing yourself any joy. It’s not the environment you want.”
On the other side, Rapp found an unrepentant bliss that she infused into Bite Me, a messy and masterful confessional filled with rock-tinged anthems, bombastic hooks, and soaring pop ballads. With standout tracks like “Shy” and “You’d Like That Wouldn’t You,” it’s an unrestrained record from someone who’s made it through burnout to discover her coolest self on the other side.
“I remember having so many days of feeling just so proud and impressed by myself—and I’m not typically impressed with myself,” she says. “I wanted to make songs that I thought were amazing, and I did. So whenever I get caught up in the promotion of it all, and the anxious soul sucking parts of it, I have to go back and remember that I made a body of work that I really fuck with.”
Here, Rapp shares the eclectic music that powers her life, from her ‘70s rock inspirations to the shared party playlist she and her girlfriend, singer-songwriter Towa Bird, listen to.
Reneé Rapp's sophomore album Bite Me includes the singles "Leave Me Alone," "Mad," and "Why Is She Still Here?."
I stayed up until midnight on the East Coast to download and listen to [Chance the Rapper’s] Coloring Book. I was so fucking excited to listen to that album in full, and it did not disappoint.
I really wish I could’ve experienced Hall and Oates’s prime. Also, the early 2000s. The No Doubt era was really inspiring to me, [and] hip hop in the 2000s was so fucking fantastic.
There’s not an era of music I don’t like, except for maybe the majority of music that came out in 2020. There was some really fucking amazing music, still. But you know how that era was like, What seven-second clip is going to make a cute TikTok dance? That’s not really my kind of music personality, even though I can respect it, and there’s definitely a place for it. But I really love every era of music. It’s all so inspiring to me, and I have kind of an eclectic music taste, so I think it all serves a purpose.
I didn’t even watch it, but I just keep seeing clips of it: The 1975’s Glastonbury set. I was just like, damn. When you see “Somebody Else” in the car, I was like, I’m gonna kill myself, this is awesome.
And [when] I saw Beyoncé live for the first time. I saw Cowboy Carter. The fucking “Texas Hold ‘Em” riff actually puts the “Drunk in Love” riff to shame, which I thought could never happen.
It’s always Frank Ocean. That poor man, he’ll never hear the end of it [from] me. Every interview, I’m like, ‘Frank.’ He’s probably like, I need a search warrant on this woman.
Another one would probably be with Kendrick [Lamar]. One of my fucking dreams has always been to work with a rapper that I love so much and do a pretty singing hook on something, kind of like what [he and SZA] did with “luther.” My favorite kind of music is something that has a really gorgeous hook and amazingly written verses.
It’d be all my favorite artists: The Carpenters, Jazmine Sullivan—but an acoustic set—Frank, Beyoncé, Heart, Journey with Steve Perry, Hall and Oates. What I wouldn’t give to see “Sara Smile.” I know they don’t fuck with each other. Such a loss!
I know that everybody fucking loves Dijon all of a sudden. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh my god, Dijon, Mk.gee.’ I’m like, You guys are so late. But what am I, if not a head? I’ve listened to “The Dress” every day for a really long time.
My girlfriend and I have a playlist. This is our before we go out or in the gym kind of thing: It’s a lot of Stormzy, Kendrick, [FKA] twigs, RAYE, oh my god, there’s so much Charli [xcx], Pop Smoke, Megan [thee Stallion], J HUS, Syd, Burna Boy, Bad Bunny.
People wouldn’t want me there. I would play the best of Etta James. It would be bad. I don’t do well with passive listening to music, so I’m not really most trusted with the aux. Also, I get too drunk too fast, and you can’t trust me to be on my phone. Everybody always takes it away from me.
Aggressive people.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.