Sophia Michaels
As Gen-Z’s newest “It Girl,” Reneé refuses to compare herself to anyone.
Cooling off after an electrifying performance of songs from Reneé’s stunning debut EP, Everything to Everyone, Rolling Stone caught up with Reneé for an episode of The Green Room. At The Bowery Electric in NYC, Reneé talked all things past, present and a big surprise for the future: Reneé is now set to star as Regina George in the movie-musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls.
For the uninitiated, Reneé’s life changed when she stole the show at the 2018 Jimmy Awards while still in high school. After taking home the top prize, Rapp won the role of Regina in Mean Girls The Musical on Broadway shortly thereafter, and has been unstoppable ever since. She’s gone on to star as Leighton in Mindy Kaling’s The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO and is now headlining her own mini-tour playing select venues across the country.
Even though she is a bonafide rising pop star, Reneé is not above being plugged in with her fans. At one point during Tuesday night’s show, she praised one of her fans for relentlessly roasting her on Twitter. “Don’t stop,” she says, with a wink and a nod. At another moment, she placed the mic in front of a fan’s face encouraging her to sing the next line. “She ate,” Reneé gushed to the NYC audience that was expectantly filled with former Theater Kids.
The self-described “cheeky little blonde bitch” continued her performance with a cavalier swagger that is quintessentially Gen-Z, using sarcasm to offset her unapologetic embrace of raw emotion. Perhaps this ability to not take herself too seriously is at the heart of her recent success. With her soulful lyrics and her dextrous vocal agility, Reneé has been able to make a transition that most Broadway starlets only dream of: she sings pop, she sings it well, andmost importantly… she’s not “cringey” while doing it.
