It won’t be long before we’re on a first-name-only basis with Reneé Rapp. It was obvious to anyone at Allstate Arena Thursday night as the singer/songwriter passionately belted out marquee numbers like “In the Kitchen” and “Snow Angel” with the centrifugal vocal force of Beyoncé or Adele. At just 25 years old, Rapp is a pop diva in the making, and she should start clearing her award mantle now.
Rapp was born for the stage. Her first invitation was taking on the role of the antagonist we love to hate, Regina George, during the short-lived Broadway production of “Mean Girls.” Rapp reprised the role in the 2024 musical film adaptation and appeared in HBO’s “The Sex Life of College Girls.” But it’s the concert stage where, unfettered and playing herself, she tears down the curtain with unabashed bravado and a flawless pitch that never wavered across the menagerie of pop rock and ballads.
The star’s “Bite Me” Tour, just launched this week, is the North Carolinian’s biggest jaunt to date in support of her same-named sophomore album, released in August. As the branding suggests, Rapp had some fightin’ words during the course of it.
The messaging began before showtime with a pretaped message on the video screens in which Rapp encouraged attendees to donate to the tour’s charity partner, Save the Children. “While we are lucky to be here in community, many children are not,” Rapp said, referencing the conflicts in Gaza, Congo and Sudan. “Use your resources as you can and use your voice to be as loud as you possibly can,” she added.
As the lights in the house went down, another video came on — this time, a filmed introductory segment for the show, titled “The Meeting.” In it, Rapp played herself as well as a number of faux characters all sitting around a boardroom roundtable, with everyone pressuring the star to tone down her language in interviews and produce a new single. “I need everyone to f—ing leave me alone!” Rapp screamed as the curtains dropped and she and a skilled five-piece band parlayed into the first mouthy pop song of the night.
The deposition-style video montage wasn’t wholly original — someone on her team must’ve seen Kendrick Lamar’s tour this summer and pilfered the idea. By the time part 2, “The Interrogation,” came around it was a near carbon copy with an offscreen inquisitor who baited Rapp with loaded questions, including wondering if “Hollywood [is] getting” to her. It may be a reference to real life as Rapp has popped up in headlines in recent months, whether throwing shade at Benson Boone’s backflipping or calling out fellow singer Betty Who regarding the latter’s controversial comments about Rapp’s relationships with women.
Yet, Rapp made it clear she’s no one’s puppet. The “Bite Me” Tour plays up that idea by design. While the stage is made to look like an elegant backdrop with dramatic red curtains, a star-shaped elevated platform and a chandelier overhead, Rapp spent most of her time on the thrust catwalk instead, sitting at the edge to sing her “favorite song” she wrote for the new album, “I Can’t Have You Around Me Anymore” or running around with a phone for a selfie video to accompany the moody pop of “Swim.
Rapp broke several cardinal rules of a pop concert on this tour. She played every track on the new album (with high points for “Shy” and “Why Is She Still Here?”), stuck to one stage design, gave a brief 80-minute performance and wore only one outfit the whole night: basically a T-shirt adorned with a sequin crossbody detail that might’ve well been a sash that read Miss Doesn’t Play By the Rules.
By the time she got to “Not My Fault,” her ubiquitous number with Megan Thee Stallion, Rapp decided she didn’t want to play it anymore. “I quit,” she said, quieting the band behind her while unleashing a very Regina George smirk. “I don’t want to play [it] anymore. Is that such a crime?”
In an era where every pop star is trying to outdo each other with mega productions — and pigeonholing themselves in the process — Rapp stuck to bare-boned talent — and it’s all she really needed. The emotions behind each number were palpable, particularly on a mid-set piano-only interlude of “That’s So Funny” and “Sometimes.” Stylistically, it carried over a jazzy cabaret delivery introduced by opener, Chicago’s own Ravyn Lenae whose honeyed vocal warble and lyrical poetry whet the palate for the night.
“It feels so good to be home!” declared the Chicago High School for the Arts alum. “I need y’all to show us how my city shows up, OK?” The capacity crowd obliged. Many showed up early to catch Lenae, echoing regrets about missing the R&B star’s set at Lollapalooza in August. In 30 minutes, Lenae ran circles around her material with soaring takes on “Days,” “One Wish” and her chart-topping single “Love Me Not” that has Billboard hailing her its “rookie of the year.”
“This last album has really changed my life and I have to thank you for all the support,” Lenae shared before exiting. Like Rapp, Lenae too will be a household name in no time.