Reneé Rapp didn’t write Bite Me to be polite.
Speaking at a Q&A hosted by influencer Brooke Blurton in Sydney on Wednesday night (January 28th), the US pop star explained that the driving force behind her 2025 album was fuelled by a conscious refusal to hold back – an exercise in saying the first thing that came to her head, before second-guessing crept in.
“The whole point of the way this album was written was to say exactly the first thing I thought. Which is not how you would communicate in life,” she told fans at the event.
“You would ideally be more considerate, you would ideally be more thoughtful, you would ideally share certain things, and you would maybe not share other things… The way you would properly communicate with someone in an emotionally intelligent conversation was not meant to be in this writing. This was meant to be the first fucking thing that comes to your head is exactly what you should say for better or for worse.”
Despite knowing how she wanted to approach her songwriting, Rapp said it was still a difficult thing to do, to truly speak her mind, admitting she often questioned whether certain lines were too blunt or overly confrontational.
“Because a lot of times I’d be like, ‘Okay, well, maybe this is too harsh, or is this too much?’ And then I would just come back to, ‘Right, but if this is the thing that I’m setting out to do, then why not do that?’ If I don’t follow through with what my drive and my intention was making this record, the only person I’ll end up truly upsetting is myself.”
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One song in particular – “Leave Me Alone” – encapsulates that philosophy. Rapp described it as the track she would’ve clung to most fiercely as an angsty teenager, and one she still connects with deeply now.
“It’s such a young feeling,” she said, “but no matter how old I get, you’re always rubbing up against the younger version of yourself. Like I’m constantly noticing myself in times of struggle.”
Rather than shaming those feelings, Bite Me allows them space to exist. “Leave Me Alone”, she explained, taps into a period of her life where she felt like everyone was against her – even if, in hindsight, no one was paying attention at all.
“I was like, ‘Everyone is against me’,” she laughed. “Mind you, nobody was fucking thinking about me.”
Rapp kicked off her debut Australian tour in Brisbane on Tuesday night (January 27th), playing to thousands at Riverstage. Rolling Stone AU/NZ gave the show a 5-star review – read it here.
The tour continues at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion tonight (January 29th) before Rapp will play at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena for AO Live, alongside the likes of The Kid LAROI, Spacey Jane, Peggy Gou, The Veronicas, and Sofi Tukker.
