Like a lot of Gen Z artists, Reneé Rapp is many things: a musician, an actor, a Broadway musical star. As of recently, the 23-year-old is also being hailed as a hero to none other than America’s sweetheart Drew Barrymore who was, a few weeks ago, ambushed by a stalker on live TV. Rapp, who Barrymore was interviewing at the time, leapt to her feet, expertly shielding the actor while escorting her off stage. “You are my Kevin Costner!” Barrymore later gushed, setting off a chain reaction of adoration from fans. “The reaction has been very sweet,” Rapp says over Zoom from her home in LA, “but a little confusing. In my brain, someone was about to harm my friend, so I’m not just going to f***ing sit there. Are you kidding? You do not come for my friends. That man is lucky nobody laid him out.”
Before the stalker interrupted, Rapp was in the middle of promoting her debut album – and contrary to its celestial-sounding title, Snow Angel is full of the same bullishness. “You’re the worst person on Earth. I hate your guts,” she coos over the breezy bossa nova of “Poison Poison”. Brazen and vulnerable, the record places Rapp in a pantheon of no-filter pop stars such as Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish. It’s hard to believe the album comes from a musician who is better known as an actor. Up until recently, Rapp was a lead on Mindy Kaling’s HBO show The Sex Lives of College Girls. Before that, she was pitch-perfect as the meanest of mean girls Regina George in Tina Fey’s musical theatre adaptation of her hit 2004 movie. Snow Angel, however, has now debuted at No 7 on the UK albums chart, making it the biggest solo debut of the year. If acting made Rapp a star, music could be the thing to make her a household name.
