Album Review: BITE ME by Renee Rapp

A beautiful mix of heartbreak anthems and hype songs, Renee Rapp’s new album BITE ME is possibly one of the best albums to come out in 2025. Follow along as we listen and interpret this new record.

Leave Me Alone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDtiPWzFLiz4A&v=tiPWzFLiz4A

Opening the record, we are greeted by the lead single Leave Me Alone. Like the title suggests, Rapp talks about wanting to be left alone throughout the entire song. Renee Rapp doesn’t just mention one thing she wants to be unbothered by. She talks about how her manager pressed her for more music, about how paparazzi doesn’t give her a break, and many more issues. She uses the lyric “Leave me alone b*tch/I wanna have fun,” as the song’s hook, leaving the listeners grasping for more. Instrumentally, the song has a strong presence of drums and guitar. This specific track helps hype the listener up for the rest of the album.

Mad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDxkWQM3flsiY&v=xkWQM3flsiY

Continuing through the album, the track Mad starts to delve into more personal issues. More specifically, relationship troubles. Lyrics like “You could’ve been gettin’ all of my time, but you were being mad,” explains some of the issues that occurred between the couple. It centers around a loud pop-rock beat, heavy drums, and lyrics that get straight to the point. It's a great song to listen to when in that post-breakup anger stage.

Why Is She Still Here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDFi1jV-ZipvE&v=Fi1jV-ZipvE

A slower, relatively calmer song follows through, tying the record together. Being the third single from this album, it feels like the angrier, sapphic sister of Lana Del Rey's “The Other Woman”. Why Is She Still Here? has a sultry, drawn out use of Renee’s vocals. It sounds like something you would hear performed live at a high class event despite its bitter lyrics.

Sometimes

An orchestral track, Sometimes has many emotional lyrics that force the listener to sit and think for a moment. It adds on to the previous track Why Is She Still Here? by expressing how Rapp wants to be someone's first choice, and how she's “tired of being a good time”. Its chorus focuses on how Renee wants to have her partner all the time, not just sometimes.

Kiss It Kiss It

One of our first huge swerves on the album, Renee Rapp has no problem going from a song about heartache to one about meeting a new lover. It’s very upbeat and has a synth-pop vibe to it. The song is very clear on what it means, and it doesn’t bother hiding how amazing it can be to love your partner. Some lyrics that stick out are “You’re gonna kill me if you kiss it like that/Got me in tears, but not because I’m sad.”

Good Girl

Sounding like a song that would be played on a bar jukebox, Good Girl follows Renee through the process of meeting a new girl. Its lyrics like to speak on how prior to meeting this new person, she was a well-mannered, properly behaving “good girl”. Slowly, it urges on to the topic of how this new girl made her life more chaotic and lively. Less “sunsets and yoga” and more “she’s gonna disappoint her father”. 

I Can’t Have You Around Me

Another auditory swerve, I Can’t Have You Around Me is a track that focuses on low bass sounds. It’s very slow, and another heartbreak anthem. Layering vocals help add to the depth and emotion that this track holds. It follows the idea that her previous love was so powerful that even now she can’t allow herself near her ex. It’s a great track to listen to when missing the one person you thought made you whole.

Shy

Serving that early-2000s-Avril-Lavigne-pop-rock energy we all need, Shy is a very deceiving track. Despite what the title says, Renee Rapp is very open with this track, putting a lot of attention on its chorus. The bridge of this track sounds like the perfect background to a high school movie cheer routine. Cheeky and unapologetic, this track belongs on a playlist with Chappell Roan’s The Giver and previous track Kiss It Kiss It. Not including the singles, this track is currently the most played on the record with 2,094,226 streams on Spotify as of August 4th.

At Least I’m Hot

If any song on this album screams glitter gel pen, it’s At Least I’m Hot. It has this cool  girl summer vibe surrounding it, an uplifting and shimmery sound with heavy lyrics. It's an unusual blend of self-deprecating lyrics and lyrics that show her confidence. This track also features Rapp’s current girlfriend, Towa Bird. It belongs on a car radio, blasting on a late-night summer drive with your closest friends.

I Think I Like You Better When You’re Gone

An acoustic lead song with occasional soft drumming, this track contains lyrics to a sad relationship problem that many people face. Renee Rapp uses this track to speak on how she prefers her partner when they're physically absent from her life. Lyrics like “I got a funny feeling, funny feeling something’s wrong/I think I like you better, I think I like you better when you’re gone,” show how the song depicts truths that many people aren’t ready to face in romance.

That’s So Funny

A slower song with hurtful lyrics, this track is an example of sarcasm that isn’t quite funny. This song provides more context to how badly Rapp’s ex hurt her emotionally and mentally. The song has primarily a piano backing, an opportunity to showcase Renee Rapp’s vocal range. One of the lyrics that stuck out on this track was “You got a better shot with God than you do with me (that’s for sure).”

You’d Like That Wouldn’t You

As we come in on the final track, we hear another bright and cheeky song. Lyrics that scream “I know you want me back”-- it’s a perfectly curated revenge track. It leans into the pop-rock sound again, giving it a perfect sound to loop the album back with. The song is very strong and leaves an impression on the listener. It leaves you wanting more, wondering what's to come next from Renee’s career. 

All in all, BITE ME is a very interesting and enjoyable record. I, as well as many other fans, am excited to see where it’ll fit in during awards season. Renee Rapp will be going on her BITE ME tour, opening at Red Rocks amphitheater on September 23rd, 2025 and ending at the OVO Wembley Arena on March 19th, 2026 in London.