What is the Reneé Rapp Sound?

She's staked her presence in the realms of Broadway, television, film, and now music. How can she elevate her music career to truly reflect something that’s authentically “Reneé?”

Reneé Rapp has a lot of things going for her recently. Earlier this year, she starred as Regina George in the movie-musical, Mean Girls, and was on a heavy promotion cycle for the movie. Videos of her flooded my YouTube page — everything from her SNL performance, interviews with talk show hosts, and a new music video featuring Megan Thee Stallion. She has also starred in the Mindy Kaling-produced TV show, The Sex Lives of College Girls, and has released several music projects all within the past year and a few months. 

This multi-hyphenated creative has mentioned that she is now focusing on building her music career (future EGOT winner??). The question is, how can she do this in a way that’s authentically herself among a crowded field of new pop artists? Who are her music audiences and what sonic direction can she lean into to grow her music career? Let’s explore this more in this piece. 

It seems that Reneé is still finding her sound

Reneé broke into the music scene with the release of her vulnerable debut single, Tatoos, which she teased on TikTok for a couple months. She then followed this up by releasing a post-breakup pop EP, Everything to Everyone. This album is a collection of emotionally charged songs like Bruises and In the Kitchen. The project positioned her as an up-and-coming artist within the sadgirl/indie pop lane amongst other artists such as Lizzie McAlpine, Lauren Spencer Smith, and Gracie Abrams. 

A few months after the release of her EP, Reneé was a guest on The Jennifer Hudson show. She was talking about her inspirations and cited Beyoncé and Jazmine Sullivan. She then performed a cover of Jazmine’s In Love with Another Man and sang the song with such soul and vocal agility, nailing the rhythm and runs perfectly. By the end of the video, I was snapping my fingers in both surprise and admiration. This wasn’t the Reneé I knew who was singing sadgirl/indie pop music. She was truly passionate about R&B and inspired by many gifted singers in that genre.

In subsequent interviews, Reneé would talk about her love of R&B music and when asked why she doesn’t pursue it commercially, she blurted out in one instance that it was because she doesn’t look the part¹. It was around this time when I started to notice a bit of a disconnect between her promotion and her music. She was definitely reaching R&B audiences through appearances on shows like The Jennifer Hudson show and the TERRELL show, but her brand and music was mainly in the pop lane. I found myself eagerly anticipating the reveal of her latest full-length album, wondering which creative paths she would explore with her music.

After a whirlwind of TV promo, she released her full-length album, Snow Angel in August of 2023. This album was still mainly pop with songs like Snow Angel, I Hate Boston, and Pretty Girls, but interestingly had one song that was rock-leaning (Talk Too Much) and another that was R&B-leaning (Tummy Hurts). It still wasn’t clear what the “Reneé Rapp sound” was just from listening to this album given its many sonic directions. On top of that, the album did not draw in as many Spotify listeners as her EP, Everything to Everyone - see below chart (5.1M peak listeners vs 4.4M).

This disconnect between her promotion as a strong vocalist with R&B sensibilities versus her pop-leaning music catalog has created an interesting branding challenge for her. She clearly has the talent and the vocal chops. However Reneé doesn’t yet have a clearly defined music lane, which is an important element to growing her music career. Artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish have created their own unique sound that makes their music easily recognizable from the crowded pop field. 

Reneé’s superpower is her soulful and powerful voice. How can she lean into this talent? Would there even be a path for her in R&B? In order to dive into this further, let’s take a look at what types of audiences are consuming her music today.

Reneé’s music is popular among pop-leaning audiences, but there is some traction within R&B

Broadly speaking, most of Reneé’s audiences are female Gen-Zs living in the US.² 

Looking at the music taste of her current streaming audience, we can see that they span across two pop-leaning groups (note: these are groups formed based on Spotify):³

She has the strongest presence among the queer/lesbian community. She is the #girlcrush of many queer creators and hashtags such as #wlw and #lgbt show up frequently in their videos. Artists like Phoebe Bridgers and FLETCHER who also show up under Queer Pop aren’t mainstream superstars but have a cult-like following in niche circles.⁴ 

Her music is also popular among Folk Pop circles who listen to artists like Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams. This makes sense since her catalog has leaned more towards this lane. However, Reneé’s vocal-forward artist brand and her natural inclination towards soul music doesn’t seem to fit well within Folk Pop. 

Interestingly, Reneé has reached the core R&B audience on video platforms like YouTube and TikTok. So while R&B doesn’t show up as a category within her streaming audience because she only has one R&B-sounding song: Tummy Hearts, her artistry is resonating among these audiences. 

For example, she appeared on the TERRELL show and covered songs from artists such as Beyoncé, Jazmine Sullivan, Keri Hilson, and Destiny’s Child. She’s even appeared on The Jennifer Hudson show again, out-singing even the great Jennifer Hudson while covering Beyoncé’s Dangerously in Love (impossible, I know, but check it out for yourself). The comment section is wild with plenty of adoration for her vocals:

“She has a voice like an seasoned gospel soloist!  I had no idea her voice was that powerful!!!”

“Renee voice has way too much soul to only dabble in the pop genre type music.”

“Yeah her parents definitely raised her right. Her voice is soulful and I love it…”
“I just need her to do a 90s r&b cover album. I’d 100% buy.”

“That white girl can SANG!!! I just love her voice”

Thought-starters: the path forward to reach the R&B crowd

It’s clear that there is an audience out there for Reneé that she has yet to tap into. She has mentioned that R&B is where her heart lies and where she draws inspiration from. I personally think that leaning into the R&B world would be an exciting direction for her, not only to distinguish herself from the other new pop acts but also to lean into her unique vocal abilities.

Going forward, it will be important to align her artist brand with her sound. How can we remove the disconnect that we see today between her promotion and her music? And how can we do this in an authentic way? Here are five key elements that are crucial to this goal:

SOUND - It would be risky to go straight into making a full-R&B album. A better strategy would be to straddle both pop and R&B and continue to showcase Reneé’s masterful vocal ability. Artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande have done this well. Her soulful voice fits this lane better than either the folk or pure pop lanes that she currently plays in. Some watch outs - there have been artists like JoJo who is well-known for her soulful vocal ability, but her full R&B album good for life did not make a splash in the market. We would need to warm-up the audience first.

COSIGNS - A meaningful cosign would help her resonate with core R&B audiences. When Ariana Grande explored a more trap/R&B-sounding pop sound with sweetener, she enlisted the help of Pharrell Williams to shape the sound of the album. Across other albums, Ariana has worked with the talented R&B songwriter and artist, Victoria Monét.

Looking at today’s music landscape, there are talented R&B producers and songwriters who are making moves. There’s the music production duo group The Rascals (Khristopher Riddick-Tynes and Leon Thomas III) who have previously worked with Ariana Grande, Drake, and most recently with SZA on her GRAMMY-winning song, Snooze. There’s also Mike Hector who recently worked on Omar Apollo’s song Killing Me from the artist’s recent album, Ivory. Could Reneé and her team forge a partnership with these in-demand producers? 

COLLABS - Finding another artist to collaborate with is equally important as finding talented producers and songwriters. Reneé bringing on Coco Jones on the remix version of Tummy Hearts was a smart move. It helped expose the music to new audiences and their voices complement each other so well - Reneé singing the high parts with her smooth soprano sound and Coco singing the low parts with her rich alto voice. 

SZA would be a great collaborator due to her eclectic music tastes across various genres and  collaborations with artists such as Phoebe Bridgers to Justin Bieber (and soon-to-be Paramore?!). I would also love to see Reneé partner with artists also known for their vocal abilities such as Jazmine Sullivan (one of Reneé’s biggest musical inspiration), chlöe, and Saint Harrison. Through these artistic partnerships, Reneé can meld pop and R&B sounds and create something that’s uniquely her.

PLAYLISTS - Instead of aiming for classic R&B playlists, choosing playlists with crossover appeal from pop, alternative/indie, and R&B genres will be a good first step. To provide a visual reference of what this means, here are some playlists that artists who straddle multiple genres have placed on (Omar Apollo, keshi, Kali Uchis, RAYE).

ARTIST BRAND - Marketing brings all the other components together. It will be important to build the connection point with Reneé and her technical vocal ability. Ariana Grande has done this well. Covering songs that allow her to showcase her vocal skills and participating in viral singing challenges can help. Every generation has their vocal powerhouses (Mariah, Whitney, Celine, Xtina, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana, Adele, and Beyoncé to name a few). Can Reneé claim this throne for the Gen-Zs?

Apart from the vocals, it would be interesting to bring out Reneé’s creativity as an artist who experiments with various sounds that transcend the typical genre boundaries. Artists that have done this well are Omar Apollo (bedroom pop/Latin/R&B), keshi (lo-fi/R&B), Kali Uchis (Latin/R&B), and RAYE (UK pop/R&B).

Authentically Reneé

The best version of an artist is when they can create music that feels authentically them, born out of their music interest and individual superpower. For Reneé, leaning into her love of R&B/soul music would help distinguish her sound from other artists. Her label may push back due to a myriad of reasons… “too risky… not commercial enough… not the best timing now.” But, I would love to see Reneé pursuing music that she feels passionate about. Because then, she will be able to forge a unique path that can be recognized as the true Reneé Rapp sound.

1. YouTube: RENEÉ RAPP Can't Stop Shocking TERRELL with Her Voice and Her Hilarious Train of Thought! (link)

2. Chartmetric: Reneé Rapp, Audiences, Feb 2024

3. Chartmetric: Reneé Rapp, Artist Overview, Feb 2024

4. TikTok search: Reneé Rapp, review of hashtags and creators, Feb 2024