Reneé Rapp becomes a master of self-sabotage on her latest single “Talk Too Much,” set to appear on her forthcoming debut album Snow Angel out Aug. 18. The record, produced with Alexander 23, finds the pop singer talking herself out of a good thing, over and over again, using extreme hypotheticals to mark the end of a relationship before she can ever get too comfortable.
“If a see a blue car today, we’ll probably have to breakup/So I close my eyes while I drive,” she sings. “And if it rains then it rains/And we’ll be over by May/That’s just the deal that I made (in my head).”
In a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, Rapp shared that “Talk Too Much” was one of the first songs she worked on with Alexander 23, who has racked up production credits on songs with the likes of Tate McRae and Olivia Rodrigo.
“I think a lot of artists do this, but some producers like it and some producers don’t. Basically, we wrote this song and this was one of the first times we were working together. We had done it and I was like, ‘Oh word.’ I really hated writing up tempos before that and now I love it,” she explained. “And it was a stressor of mine because I was like, I want to make sure that I’m doing a good job and I’m doing it intentionally and it has all of this shit whatever, whatever.”
She continued: “We made the song and I was so excited, but Alexander and I weren’t like cool yet. We weren’t like boys. And so I didn’t want to ask him to send me a bounce because I knew he wouldn’t do it. It depends on the producer. It depends on the producer. He is so particular. He’s honestly just so smart that he’s like, ‘No, you can’t have it until I go through and do things to it to make it a full song.’ I kind of just listen to whatever he says now, which is weird because I really don’t like to do that.”
Rapp is still finding what methods work for her as an artist, but she’s throwing herself into it entirely. Earlier this week, the actress and musician, who stars as Leighton in MAX’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, revealed that she’ll be exiting the show following its upcoming third season. She stated that while the series and the queer representation that it allowed her to be a part of has “changed my life,” she’s ready to move on.
“I think the easier part for me is when I’m doing stuff on stage or screen, I at least trust that the material is not mine,” she shared. “I think with songs I become so much more territorial and I’ve been really afraid of that since the beginning, especially when it comes to writing. It’s easier to trust on stage and screen because you have to. You literally don’t have an option. And it’s great when you’re working with amazing people who you do trust. And there’s a very distinct difference, and it’s really hard to … Or it’s been hard for me.”
She added: “I don’t know if that’s because I’ve had different experiences on the other side because I’ve also had amazing experiences on the other side, but it just doesn’t fucking matter to me in music. Everybody’s like, ‘Music is so psychotic. This business is crazy. Don’t you wish you could just go back to not having that?’ And I’m like, ‘No. No. I am so much happier when I’m doing this. It’s the most emotionally intense ups and downs that I have because then it also makes the other things really hard of, I care so much about my music, and I care so much that when there are those down moments, they’re so fucking down. Because I feel like a lot of times people are like, ‘Yeah, I don’t really care. It’s cool. It slides off my back.’ I’m so envious of those people. I think that’s amazing. And I would love to develop that trait.”