In the music industry, the term \u201chiatus\u201d has historically been used to describe artists who take extended breaks between releases. Most often, they do so in the name of creative restoration \u2014 and to their fans\u2019 chagrin.<\/p>\n
Such dry spells have marked singer-songwriters like Fiona Apple and Lorde, who throughout their careers have sustained several years-long periods of radio silence between albums.<\/p>\n
Hence why Rene\u00e9 Rapp was perplexed when, after going less than two years without releasing new solo music, people started saying she was on hiatus. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, after her break,\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018You mean doing festivals every other weekend? And making an album during it?\u2019\u201d Rapp said on a Zoom call in early October.<\/p>\n
An hour or so later, the artist would head to sound check at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, where \u2014 despite a fever she was currently downing antibiotics to temper \u2014 she\u2019d be playing later that night in support of her Bite Me Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s whatever, I\u2019ve performed through worse,\u201d Rapp said, recalling a Christmas Eve show she\u2019d pushed through despite a bout of food poisoning. <\/p>\n In the years since her widely praised Broadway run as \u201cMean Girls\u201d villain Regina George, which she embarked on when she was just 19, Rapp has had a stint in television, reprised her role as North Shore High School\u2019s apex predator<\/u><\/a> for a movie musical adaptation of \u201cMean Girls\u201d and released and toured an EP and two albums\u2019 worth of music.<\/p>\n Rapp\u2019s debut album, \u201cSnow Angel,\u201d arrived to much fanfare in 2023, and her sophomore record, \u201cBite Me,\u201d dropped in August. The next month, she kicked off her Bite Me Tour, which lands at the Kia Forum on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cI can listen back to every song and be like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s good,\u2019\u201d Rene\u00e9 Rapp said of her new album \u201cBite Me.\u201d<\/p>\n (Ashley Thompson \/ Respective Collective)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n In other words, Rapp has been busy. <\/p>\n And as for her alleged hiatus, the singer said, \u201cThe only real break that I took was saying, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to just put out music to put out music.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that she didn\u2019t have any songs written; she just didn\u2019t believe in any of them strongly enough to release them. Some, she\u2019s still sitting on. <\/p>\n But the 12 tracks that make up \u201cBite Me,\u201d Rapp said she chose purposefully: \u201cI wanted to write, like, mathematically, a good pop album.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[\u2018Snow Angel\u2019] was like, \u2018OK, here\u2019s a T-shirt and a long sleeve and jeans and sweatpants. And they\u2019re not folded, but here you go. They\u2019re all good pieces of clothing,\u2019\u201d the artist said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis album is like all of those clothes, but laundered and folded neat and perfectly wrapped in a bow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ranging sonically from glam punk to synth pop and post-disco melodies, \u201cBite Me\u201d is a vocally rich and charmingly diaristic record that hits like a wine-drunk dream. Like Rapp herself, it swings between emotional extremes, always preserving the singer\u2019s trademark candor. As she quips on her splashy lead single \u201cLeave Me Alone,\u201d she\u2019ll \u201csign a hundred NDAs, but I still say somethin.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBite Me\u201d topped Billboard\u2019s Top Album Sales chart<\/u><\/a>, moving 47,000 copies \u2014 30,000 of which were vinyl purchases \u2014 in the U.S. in its first week. It also placed third on the overall Billboard 200, giving Rapp her first top 10 entry.<\/p>\n Upon its August release, Rapp described<\/a> \u201cBite Me\u201d as \u201ca time capsule of the last two to three years of my life. Every part. The good bad and the ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n But while the album is autobiographical in spirit, its songs also benefit from a leniency on Rapp\u2019s part about her faithfulness to their source material. Some songs blend one of the singer\u2019s life experiences with another, while others are deliberately disproportionate to such events.<\/p>\n \u201cMy line is, like, if I felt that way at one point, it can be true, even if it\u2019s not true now,\u201d Rapp said. <\/p>\n On her aching ballad \u201cWhy Is She Still Here?\u201d Rapp plays the part of a lover embittered by the lingering presence of a third party in her relationship. The track could score a film noir sequence, its narrative betraying months of romantic turmoil. <\/p>\n In actuality, the song draws from \u201ca three- or four-day period of my life that I blew up into this big thing,\u201d Rapp said. <\/p>\n Rene\u00e9 Rapp will play her biggest L.A. show yet at the Kia Forum. <\/p>\n (Respective Collective \/ Ashley Thompson)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Rapp\u2019s close friend and frequent collaborator, singer-songwriter and producer Alexander Glantz (who goes by the stage name Alexander 23), has always known her to be a deeply sensitive and passionate person.<\/p>\n \u201cRene\u00e9 just doesn\u2019t feel things lightly,\u201d Glantz said. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of her talking about something lamely or with any type of subtlety. When she feels something, she feels at 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a producer and co-writer,\u201d he continued, \u201cit\u2019s kind of my job to put that into music as best I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Glantz, who is also credited on hits from Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> and Tate McRae<\/a>, recognized Rapp\u2019s \u201cstar power\u201d from the moment he met her. He also felt a strong \u201ccreative chemistry\u201d between them, which has since developed into a close artistic partnership that at times veers into sibling rivalry.<\/p>\n The two clash constantly in the studio, with their ugliest spats known to derail recording days. They even argue about song titles. Despite Rapp dubbing her lead single \u201cCannonball\u201d in her mind, Glantz along with \u201cBite Me\u201d writer-producers Omer Fedi and Julian Bunetta insisted \u201cLeave Me Alone\u201d was the obvious choice.<\/p>\n![\"Rene\u00e9](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/b94bc8a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4672x6224+0+0\/resize\/320x426!\/format\/webp\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F08%2F2b%2F8b77b5974916b9d33e9903bfeda4%2Frespectivecollective-03.JPG)
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