Reneé Rapp was just 19 when she learned she'd be going to Broadway to play the meanest of the Mean Girls, Regina George.
Last year, she reprised the role on the big screen.
Now, Rapp has an eye on the pop charts. And if the title of her new album, Bite Me, is any indication, she's still got a little "mean girl" in her.
Reneé Rapp is now 25, yet brimming with the confidence of a veteran entertainer. She says a lot of people see her that way.
"My dad has always said to me, the most confident people in the room are the people who are aware that they're insecure," Rapp told Morning Edition host A Martínez. "I do think that… I was born to do this and this is the only thing that I was going to do, but I also think that comes with a massive emotional burden. I also am cripplingly anxious about every single f***ing decision I make."
Anger is a recurring theme in many of the songs in Bite Me. In "Mad," Rapp chides a romantic partner about their delight in staying angry long after an argument has ended.
I wish I could take that pretty little face/
And shake some sense into you, like/
Hey, you!/
All of the time you wasted being mad/
We could've been cute and we could've been stupid
Rapp confesses, "I feel my emotions to a 10." She says she's been in relationships where she was accused of getting irrationally upset and holding grudges.
"It's so funny, I'm really confrontational in life, but in my close, personal and intimate relationships, I am so levelheaded and calm (when I'm sober!)," she said.
Rapp also points out how men are often forgiven for getting angry in public, but women aren't. "I had a job that pretty much beat me senseless emotionally. When I started to get angry and be like, 'Hey, you guys can't really treat me like that. This is unethical,' they'd be like, 'Woof, what a drama queen!' You weaponized this behavior so that you can do whatever you want and treat me however you like," she said. "So I have a great relationship to anger, I think it's really healthy."
Since her Broadway debut, Rapp's career has rocketed — an album deal, concert tours, a role on the HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls. She's been surrounded by managers and advisors, trying to keep her career trending up. But a quick scan of some of the song titles on Bite Me give some insight into her state of mind during that ascent: "Leave Me Alone," "Why Is She Still Here?," "I Can't Have You Around Me Anymore," "I Like You Better When You're Gone."
"I felt so swallowed by everybody and everything that I don't even know who I am anymore," Rapp said about that time. "I don't remember the last time I was happy. Oh, it was so depressing. And what's interesting is: I had never been more surrounded by people, but I never felt more lonely."
Rapp began to take more control of her career, starting with this album. "It just felt like I have to get rid of everything that's attached to me and be reborn. Go and run and do my own thing," she said.
Kaity Kline produced the audio version of this story. The digital version was edited by Olivia Hampton.
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