Pop’s current landscape is bursting with female singer-songwriters boasting catchy tunes and bags of attitude. One of the future stars in this category is Reneé Rapp, who’s appeared here a few times already.

Her career took off as an actress. In 2018, Rapp won the ‘Best Actress’ award at the Blumey Awards, and  ‘Best Performance by an Actress’ at the Jimmy Awards. This landed her a role in the ‘Mean Girls’ musical on Broadway (2019-2020). She reprised that role I the 2024 film adaptation of the play. Rapp also starred in the HBO Max series ‘The Sex Lives Of College Girls’ (2021-2024). Now, more empowered than ever, she turns her attention back to music, which is unapologetically about her own life.

Her sophomore album Bite Me is not a record for tidy emotional resolutions; it’s a unfiltered chronicle of the emotional turbulence following a breakup.  It thrives on raw honesty.

Kiss It Kiss It is the album’s biggest pop moment. Although is has a groovy retro vibe, it’s state-of-the-art modern pop. The tune is steamy, vulgar, cheeky, flirtatious, and impossible not to dance to. Including a guitar lick that echoes Garbage’s Stupid Girl, it’s full of quotable lyrics.  “I told her I’m from Carolina / I know a thing or two about rodeo”, for instance. Or when the singer, who came out as lesbian, recalls: “I think we almost made a baby / I mean, we can’t, but we came so close.”

Kiss It Kiss It by Reneé Rapp is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. It will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.

More Reneé Rapp @ Carte Blanche music

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In the Wildcards 2025 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.