In this FRONTPAGE interview, we catch up with Reneé Rapp, a pop star & actor who has a very important message for us all...
Reneé Rapp claims there’s only one thing she’s certain of: she really, really, really loves hot people.
“That's not hot people, like, attractive people,” she clarifies. “That's hot people who have their shit together.” To have your shit together, according to Rapp, is to be irresistible. Show up in her life with a little drive, some direction, and maybe even a therapy schedule and you two may just be on your way to a deep connection.
But I'd argue there’s something else she’s certain of: that she is exactly where she wants to be. In this particular moment, that’s a Minneapolis hotel lobby full of businessmen blasting smooth jazz. Not because she’s a businessman and not because of the smooth jazz. “I don't feel like I fit in,” she says. On the contrary, she likes the sport of standing out before winning her way in. “I really want them to buy me drinks or something.”
Obviously, Rapp is thrilled to be in the Twin Cities in a physical sense. In a few hours – and after she gets off the phone with me – she will be back on stage for another night of her sold-out “Snow Hard Feelings” Tour, performing for a glorious crowd of screaming fans. On top of that, she will also be making her big screen debut in 2024.
But Rapp is also exactly where she wants to be in a less literal sense. Like in her skyrocketing career as a chart-topping artist who’s in the midst of touring her first ever full-length solo album Snow Angel for example (and which just so happened to have the biggest first week of US sales for a debut pop album by a solo female artist this year).
Reneé RappI love fashion, and I love versatility, and I love how it can make you feel on different days.
Though the end goal was always music, Rapp initially caught the interest of the entertainment industry and pop culture lovers alike by way of her fruitful acting career – which is why, if you aren't responsible for one of the 300 million streams of her discography, you might recognize Rapp from her leading role in Mindy Kaling’s hit show The Sex Lives of College Girls. Or perhaps you know her for her portrayal of the one and only Regina George in both Mean Girls on Broadway and the soon-to-be-released remake of the iconic high school comedy.
While burgeoning pop stardom certainly looks good on her, Rapp seems particularly at peace with where she is with herself, her own identity as an artist, and beyond. “I feel much more like myself,” she shares, which she attributes to changes she’s made since signing with Interscope, focusing on music, building a supportive team, and prioritizing her mental health – especially while touring.
What does that look like? As much normalcy and routine as possible. And of course, a good therapist. “Being able to work out in every city, I really cherish,” she notes, “I have very openly struggled with eating disorders for a very long time, as I think a lot of people have. So if I'm eating well (and by well, I don't mean rabbit food. By well, I mean protein, eating good things for my body and also honoring what I want on the day) that helps me a lot.”
After a number of traumatic experiences navigating costume politics on Broadway, she’s still processing the guilt she feels when she looks back and sees the ways it impacted her mental – and physical – health. “Anytime I talk about it, I feel inherently guilty, which I know is not how I should feel,” she says. “I know I should feel empowered and whatever, but it does make me feel guilty in a way. And I know that's just this underlying capitalistic kind of shame, like, ‘You should be grateful‘ kind of thing. But it's interesting,even though I'm so sure of what I'm saying, there's always that misogynistic, patriarchal undertone of like, ‘Well, yeah, but you should be grateful’ or, ‘Well, yeah, but you would be prettier if…’”
Today, she attributes much of the stability she’s found on this tour to her team. In the past, her team’s were, shall we say, a little toxic. “I had so many people telling me what was wrong with me for so many years… I'm in a much more supportive space.” While she notes her privilege as a cis white woman, and the things that shape her experience in the industry, Rapp explains she has really struggled with standing up for herself – especially earlier in her career.
“A lot of people will be like, ‘Wow, she's such a bitch. She comes across so bratty.’ And it's actually just me advocating for myself… if me asking for basic respect is bitchy and going for what I want is bratty, then okay, I would love to be a bitch. Because then I'm really enjoying saying what I want and living how I want to, to serve and support myself, and the people around me. That's actually great to me — hot take.”
Reneé RappI had so many people telling me what was wrong with me for so many years. I’m in a much more supportive space.
But getting to a place where she’s surrounded by a supportive team that both respects and pushes her hasn’t been easy. “I also have been fortunate enough to craft my business and my team with people around me who keep me in line, absolutely, but I've tried to bust my ass to make sure that I can call shots.”
Beyond her supportive team, Rapp is grateful for her queer community, and the platform it has given her. Coming to terms with her sexuality as a kid in North Carolina, she remembers moments where she had to battle her own internalized homophobia, and deeply empathizes with the infinite spectrum of ways people come to love their own queerness, an idea she explores in the video for “Pretty Girls” directed by the one and only Cara Delevingne.
“When I was a kid… I was coming to terms with bisexuality or whatever you want to fucking call it, I remember saying out loud, ‘Well, I would really want to kiss a girl, but I don't think I could ever marry a girl.’ I remember saying that as a really young kid, and I think a lot of people do.”
The song and corresponding video focus on the classic queer experience of wondering “Are they into me into me? Are they into me to experiment? Or are they My boyfriend said it would be cool if we made out into me. Which, truthfully, is an experience most of us gays have been on both sides of.
“I've done some shit I'm super not proud of,” Rapp admits. “And I've also done some things where I've been like, ‘Yes, this is amazing for me and this is very empowering.’ But I've also done shit out of true exploration and trying to figure out who I am and what I want. And I don't know, for me, that's never ended.”
These days, things are certainly different for Rapp. ”I've said to my partner, ‘Look, I've never loved being bisexual so much in my life as I have in this relationship. Because I feel so happy here.’”
Rapp’s relationship with her mental health, her body, and her queerness, have greatly informed the ways in which she looks at the fashion world.“I feel my best when I feel good. And that's coming from somebody who's been told, ‘You need to cover up’ or ‘You need to lose weight’ or ‘You look too frumpy’ or things like that for my entire adult life so far in a professional setting… I love fashion and I love versatility, and I love how it can make you feel on different days.”
She laughs when I bring up my favorite maybe-controversial topic: dressing gay. “It's such a joke, and probably such a bad joke, but I always say my style changes depending on how gay I want to feel that day.”
But for Renee (and for many of us) weighing feeling comfortable and safe, expressing different parts of ourselves via fashion while still feeling affirmed and authentic, also requires acknowledgment of the ways conforming to gender stereotypes, and being perceived by the world, has shaped our experiences.
“I really enjoy when I dress hyper-feminine or appear hyper-feminine, and then people are very confused. I quite love it. It didn't use to serve me when I was a kid though, because I was like, ‘Wait, I'm gay.’ Which is such an interesting complaint, because growing up in the South, I was blessed and lucky to present in such a way that I wasn't actively looked at through a specific lens.”
For Rapp, this perspective makes for an openness to experimenting with her own style and expression. “I could think that I don't like something one day and then somebody could wear it and make it look really fucking cool and style it really well. And I think it's sick. I am so for anything.”
So the next time you’re agonizing over whether to risk it all with a bold accessory or questionable shoe, the answer is simple: Do. Picture the popstar herself over your shoulder yelling “Fuck it. Everybody looks great in everything.” Then click your platform Croc heels three times, grab that frog-shaped tote bag, and march out and march out into the nearest crowd. You'll win your way in. Trust me on this.
