Reneé Rapp – Snow Angel
Trapped under past relationship debris and reckoning with early-20s dissatisfaction, on Snow Angel, Reneé Rapp endures a deluge of frustrations.
'Here I am talking myself out of my own happiness', Reneé Rapp recognises on Talk Too Much, a veritable ode to overthinking. As her voice capers over a languid bass and volatile electric guitar, we hear the sonic synthesis of Maroon 5’s Songs About Jane and Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR. Comically not suffering fools gladly on Poison Poison, she cusses out a past lover over sugary melodies à la Lily Allen’s Fuck You.
But Rapp is conscious of the fallout of her own shortcomings too – on the poignant Gemini Moon it feels as if pigments on a watercolour painting have flown in the wrong direction and the original stroke can’t be undone. Not pious, but simply just pissed off on So What Now, she channels a mopey P!NK, building to an undulating outro that delightfully rises and falls in longing and anger. Finally, over feathery vocals in 23, birthday disillusionment and anxiety coalesce into restless melancholy.
Snow Angel is a well-calibrated blend of ballads and upbeat pop; self-contained but not unambitious. Not dealing in grand epiphanic or showstopping moments but rather steadier, more subdued honesty, Rapp jettisons the debut pop album rule book.
Listen to: Poison Poison, Pretty Girls, So What Now