It wasn’t precisely Renée Rapp’s plan to turn into an actress — she needed to be Beyoncé. But rising up in Huntersville, North Carolina, she took each alternative she might to be on stage — that meant transitioning into musical theater. She even received a 2018 Jimmy Award, the National High School Musical Theatre Award. But when it was time to contemplate her future, her mother and father gave her two decisions: go to varsity or get a job. She returned with a structured plan. “I’m going to transfer to musical theater school. I’m going to try and get a job working on Broadway. I’ll live in New York, I will do music there, and that’s what I’m going to do,” she remembers over Zoom from her residence in Los Angeles. Not solely did she do it, however she made her Broadway debut as Regina George in Tina Fey’s adaptation of Mean Girls. Not unhealthy for a first-time position.
Her time as Regina was lower quick by the pandemic, nevertheless it wasn’t lengthy till she booked a task on her first TV sequence — HBO Max’s faculty comedy The Sex Lives of College Girls. For the previous two seasons, she’s performed fan-favorite Leighton Murray, a snobby, well-to-do lesbian who has been coming to phrases with her sexuality. Though Rapp identifies as bisexual, she says, “A lot of [Leighton’s] journey is reflected in my life, specifically because it’s coming from me.”
Read extra: The reinvention of Dove Cameron
While The Sex Lives of College Girls has been taking off, Rapp’s music career has been percolating, as effectively. In November, she launched her debut EP Everything to Everyone, and since then, her catchy post-breakup anthem “Too Well” has earned upwards of 12 million Spotify streams. And Rapp is simply getting began. “I’ve been just kind of plotting my whole life to do this,” she laughs.
In an interview with AltPress, Rapp talks about her dream storyline for Leighton, wanting a collaboration with Frank Ocean, and discovering romance in her TikTookay DMs.
So you needed to be a musician earlier than you needed to be an actress, proper?
Yes. 100% I by no means thought I used to be going to be an actor. I believed I used to be a horrible actor. I used to be so anxious each single day of Season 1 [of The Sex Lives of College Girls]. I used to be like, “I’m getting fired from this job.” I have not been fired — an enormous win for us.
Your songs straddle R&B (“In the Kitchen”) and alt-pop (“Too Well”). Do you have a specific genre direction you’re leaning toward moving forward?
I’m trying to do exactly in between. I would like to have my own lane to do that. I feel so incredibly influenced by R&B. Pop ballads do nothing for me. R&B ballads do. But intricate pop writing does a lot for me, so it’s kind of in the middle. I definitely want to lean more toward not pop production on my project. Like, I don’t want anything to feel hella vanilla. That’s so tired to me.
“Too Well” is quite pop-leaning, and it’s become such a hit.
The first six months, I said, “There’s no motherfucking manner that that music is ever seeing the sunshine of day.” Now it’s out, and it’s the single. [It’s] the song everybody likes, which everybody told me would happen. Everybody was like, “This is what’s gonna happen.” I’ve heard Ariana Grande hates her biggest songs, so I was like, “Well, I’m fantastic.”
Do you still hate it?
I’ve been told not to say that I hate it, so I love it.
What’s your songwriting process like?
All my friends joke, “We want updates on Reneé each 12 hours,” as a result of there’s a lot shit going on emotionally. Maybe I simply put myself by way of horrific conditions on goal, which I’m really tremendous okay with. My breakup purchased me a automotive. I’m good on it. Like, I’ll undergo one other one. Not actually, however … the whole lot is a large number proper now. That’s okay.
Which artists are you most impressed by?
Kacey Musgraves has an enormous affect [on me] songwriting-wise, although she’s a rustic artist. She’s only a storyteller.
To be trustworthy, my pitch once I needed to get signed to Interscope was: “I want to be bisexual Justin Bieber.” So I’m making an attempt to do this, however in a youthful period — his “R&Bieber” period, however a bit extra girly. I’m actually simply taking it from a variety of shit and making an attempt to make my very own little lane in it. Somebody who did that so effectively is Billie Eilish. She took the issues that she loves — various music, pop music, and hip hop — and was like, “I’m creating my own lane.” That is precisely what I need to do.
In phrases of music, have you ever began working on an album but?
Yeah, I’m working on an album proper now, and then we’ll hopefully tour this summer season.
You’ve been getting a variety of flirty TikTookay duets and propositions. Have any of them labored out?
Yeah… [Laughs.]
Are you in a relationship with certainly one of them?
I don’t know. It wasn’t a public proposition. A number of the general public propositions scare me. That’s like a bit joke as a result of then they get taken too severely.
[The Sex Lives of College Girls / Courtesy of Katrina Marcinowski/HBO Max]
Onto The Sex Lives of College Girls — how did you land the position of Leighton?
It was May or June of 2020. I bought an e mail from brokers that have been like, “Hey, you should audition for this.” I had solely achieved two or three self-tapes earlier than then for appearing, and they weren’t good — in any respect. To be clear, my audition for The Sex Lives of College Girls wasn’t good, both. I noticed a breakdown of the position and I used to be like, “Ah, a bitch. Yes, my type.” Then I noticed that the bitch was homosexual, and I used to be like, “Yes! That makes me want to do this,” as a result of that wasn’t part of my life that was public. It was to individuals who knew me and knew me intimately, but in addition on the time, I used to be in a relationship with a person. So if I wasn’t speaking about being homosexual, no person knew that I used to be, proper? Because that is not how I used to be perceived. So I despatched in a video in June, and then I used to be pinned for the position a few days after. I used to be on maintain for the position for a number of months, then I did a callback, and then I bought the job. It was simply all on Zoom.
How a lot of your journey as a bisexual girl has been mirrored on the present?
Oh, my God, the whole lot. A number of these things is so parallel to my life. The solely distinction is Leighton identifies as a lesbian. But even being a bisexual girl, I’ve completely had intercourse with males the place I’m like, “This should end — soon.” I’ve been in relationships with males for years on finish, and I nonetheless felt that manner.
Have any particular situations from season 1 or season 2 been taken out of your actual life and into the writers’ room?
No, however on the similar time, my pals all joke that I’m a “method actor” and I do not comprehend it. Because no matter Leighton goes by way of, I really do find yourself going by way of. Like, this whole final season, I had my complete “ho era.” I did not have chlamydia, however I had a “ho era.” I had a “ho year,” it was nice. But I really feel like something she’s going by way of, I’m going by way of, so possibly I’m extra of an actor than I feel.
Leighton’s preppy fashion has been a dominant power on the present, and you stated in an interview “no more plaid” for her. Are we going to see a method evolution subsequent season?
I need that. Is that going to occur? Probably not. I’m so explicit in regards to the garments that I put on. I simply want she had some swag. Sometimes she clothes like a fucking 50-year-old girl within the Sixties and I’m like, “If that’s your vibe, buy into it.” But I’m personally not shopping for it. I would really like a bit little bit of a shift. Also, cunty lesbians I do know do not gown like that. I’m not Hillary Clinton. I’ve the identical white girl impact, however no. It is as if Nancy Reagan was a lesbian.
Do you’ve any concept what path Leighton’s storyline will take subsequent season?
I imply, if it was as much as me, she would find yourself being a songwriter. She would research overseas in France, would fall in love with some French woman, and she would turn into a pop star. Then, she would retire, have youngsters, transfer to Nantucket, and do one thing bizarre and cute. That being stated, no person listens to my concepts. I do not know.
[The Sex Lives of College Girls / Courtesy of Katrina Marcinowski/HBO Max]
Who’s your least favourite Sex Lives of College Girls character?
God, it adjustments a lot. My favourite is [Gracie Dzienny’s character] Tatum. I do know she fucked up, however I’m rooting for her comeback. My least favourite is anybody who hurts Alyah [Chanelle Scott’s character Whitney]. Anyone who has ever come for Whitney, you are on my fucking record, and that record is working deep.
You’re set to reprise your position as Regina George in Mean Girls, however not on Broadway. How do you are feeling about it being made right into a musical movie?
I feel we are able to all in all probability agree that musical motion pictures may be so extremely redundant. I’m not blind to that, nor do I disagree. I feel we’re missing a lot unique work. The cool factor about Mean Girls — what makes me need to do it and what makes me excited for it — is Mean Girls was such an enormous a part of my childhood. It was such an influential film to me as a child as a result of I used to be 3 when it got here out. It was one thing to the technology earlier than me, it’s one thing to my technology and I feel that this Mean Girls period is what it is going to be in a musical model to my technology. I hope that is what it’s. I simply need it to be cunty and scorching.
When it involves music and appearing, who do you dream of collaborating with?
I need to write and do a music with Frank Ocean. I need to do one thing with Jazmine Sullivan. Ideally, at some point I need to do one thing with Beyoncé. I need to write with Kacey Musgraves. I need to meet Justin Bieber, however I’m too afraid.
I need to possibly do a full film at some point, however after I’ve received a Grammy. Then I need to do an A24 movie that any person loopy directs. Maybe I’ll do an A24 movie that Alyah [Chanelle Scott from The Sex Lives of College Girls] directs, really. That’s my aim.
Discussion about this post