Renee rap gay

 “All of a sudden, I had these people around me who were either nonbinary people, trans friends, or lesbians, and I was like, ‘I feel so happy when I’m with you guys. It makes me feel sad and it makes me feel insecure, because that's something that I had to deal with for such a long time in my life, and so many people do."

"Just please, for the love of God, let people be.

“So many of my friends get involved in relationships that are either open or poly and then end up being like, ‘Oh my God, wait, I can’t do this.’”

She is also keenly aware of the gaps in LGBTQ+ representation in pop. This much was clear at a live performance at the Nice Guy in Los Angeles just weeks before her album release — an eruption of playful but thunderous howls that felt more like a rowdy sports arena than an intimate performance. 

“The reason I think it’s kind of fun is I grew up going to football and basketball games,” says the Charlotte, NC native, “and that’s such an American sports thing to do.

Despite it all, she's always openly and proudly shared her love for women.

Fast-forward to January 2024, the "Tummy Hurts" singer made her Saturday Night Live debut, where she served as the show's musical guest, and even made a guest appearance in a sketch called "Entertainment Tonight Lip-Readers." In the skit, Reneé was introduced as the "little lesbian intern." Coming out as a lesbian on SNL was a last-minute decision for her.

The only pop I liked was Kesha — and even that was, like, alt-pop.”

And yet, here she is now — fully rooted in a genre she once kept at arm’s length. Shut the fuck up."

"Here's why I'm fucking pissed: You are the reason that people in our community don't feel safe coming out and changing and evolving.

I wish that I had that when I was growing up, but I didn't. So, I find it really funny when we do it at lesbian concerts,” she adds. But it came to be that, no, I’m actually just gay like that.”

When it came time to perform on SNL, Rapp was set to appear in a sketch in which Yang was originally supposed to introduce her as “our little bisexual intern Reneé.” Before the show, Rapp ended up asking one of the show’s writers, Celeste Yim, to change “bisexual” to “gay”.

“I didn’t grow up listening to pop music. Allow people the space to grow and change and to move forward and to identify how they want."

"I have so many of my friends who later on in life, have come into their gender, have come into their sexuality, have changed their sexuality — God forbid I decided that I was a lesbian.

So for you to get in your fucking comments and in my fucking comments and say that it's not fair that I decided to start identifying as a lesbian because you didn't like the fucking way I went about it...Fuck you! Taking a stab at something bad that’s happened to me.” She confirms that she left the show of her own accord, but declines to get specific.

Sexuality isn't always as black and white as people may think. “This time around, I knew what I wanted. I grew up in the South, where you don't do that."

Reneé then admitted that she felt like she "had to be bisexual" because it was more digestible and acceptable for others if she still assumed a "closeness" to heterosexuality and men.

"I felt like for so long I had to be bisexual because I had to assume closeness to a sexuality that could lead to being with a man," she continued.

There was no hint of humor in her voice either — she was not playing.

"Do not make people in our own community feel unsafe to be themselves," Reneé added. “I think the only people that are really pushed by mainstream music are just white lesbians,” she says. “I’ve been in a really miserable relationship and made an okay album, and now I’m in an amazing relationship, and I believe that I made something that I think is great.”

When asked if Rapp plans to collaborate with her partner soon, she laughs: “I keep trying to do shit with her, and she’s like, ‘No, bro.”

With songs like “Why Is She Still Here?” and “Kiss It Kiss It,” “Bite Me” is packed with WLW anthems.