Tired of your Spotify playlists? The Purbalite is here to help with our Essential Listening series.

Reneé Rapp got her start on Broadway at age 19 in 2019 in the musical version of Mean Girls. After the pandemic closed the show, she began to develop her music career, and she released her first EP, Everything to Everyone, in 2022.

She showed real development in her 2023 album, Snow Angel. While Everything to Everyone featured a slow indie beat, her album is a mix of pop and R&B.

Standout songs like “Poison Poison” and “23” convey the development of relationships with both others and yourself. These songs show how sometimes a person has to leave certain others behind to move forward.

“Pretty Girls” was Rapp’s way of coming out and discussing her sexuality publicly for the first  time. While she has since come out as a lesbian, at the time Snow Angel was released she identified as bisexual. The changes she makes in the song when performing it live today allows her to connect more with both her sexuality and her audience.

While “The Wedding Song” still fits the themes and sound of the album, the sincere vulnerability and almost pleading lyrics seem out of place compared to the angry and frustrated tone in the rest of the songs.

Overall, through a mix of deeper lyrics and R&B sound, Rapp continues to grow as a person and an artist with Snow Angel.