From broadway hits to radio fame, Rapp is taking over the music scene at astonishing speeds. The rising star only released her first EP, “Everything to Everyone” in 2022 and her first official album “Snow Angel” back in 2023. Her ability to unpack the most painful emotions and repackage them into relatable melodies is what makes Rapp such an incredible artist and one of the standout performances at Outside Lands 2024.
Before she even stepped foot onto the stage, Rapp was already drawing massive applause from her seemingly hundreds of adoring fans. This anticipation only grew once the artist came out swinging to her first song of the night, “Talk Too Much,” a song every young woman in the audience seemingly knew and sang every word of. Living up to her name, Rapp performed like a rapper with the way she used up the entire stage and hyped up the crowd who somehow only continued to get more excited as the night progressed.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Rapp launched into her second song of the night, “Poison Poison.” During the first chorus, the artist came to the edge of the stage, held the mic out to the audience and had them sing the familiar words about a toxic relationship. Rapp was clearly having the time of her life on the Twin Peaks stage as she often took a moment to rock out into the camera for everyone to see on the Jumbotron. Once the song ended, Rapp told the audience that if they are cold in the 57 degree Fahrenheit weather, it was because they needed to jump around more.
Taking the cue, both Rapp and the audience jumped into the third song of the set, “Bruises.” Vague shouts of “i’m going to cry” were echoed amongst a few of the attendees who related to the song’s sad-angry lyrics about hurt feelings. Taking things up a bit, Rapp then broke out in a poppy song about self love titled “Not My Fault.”
After getting sufficiently amped up, an audience member held up a sign telling Rapp to “shake it,” which she ignored for the moment. The artist then asked the crowd to cheer for the pretty girls in the audience as a way of announcing her song of the same name. Even though “Pretty Girls” got festival goers incredibly hyped up, the next song, “Colorado,” somehow upped the ante. The song’s universal chorus of self improvement rushed through the audience until its final moments.
In a clever way to introduce her seventh song of the set, Rapp asked her fans if they knew how to swim before she dove into her song “Swim.” The EDM dance beat flowed to the farthest edges of the crowd along with Rapp’s angelic voice. After “Swim” sank into the history of the set list, the performer asked the audience if they were ready to sing their hearts out for her next song, to which they obviously responded with a resounding cheer. Rapp then introduced her eighth song of the night, “The Wedding Song.”
Before she started singing however, the artist quickly apologized for the song being about the time she dated a guy. Girls in the front row were visibly crying on the Jumbotron and everyone helped carry out the final verses. After “The Wedding Song,” the crowd snapped and swayed to the beat of “Willow” before jumping and clapping to “Too Well.” This crowd favorite was elevated by a wicked guitar solo that garnered much love from the audience. To this, Rapp made it known that she didn’t like to bring males on as a part of her tours because they were hard to co-sign. With this group being a talented exception, the artist shouted out her guitar player, Dallas, her keyboard player, Nick and the bassist, Drey.
Reneé Rapp lets out a smile as she notices fans holding up posters expressing their love for the artist. Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
Reneé Rapp imitates the pose of her guitarist as he plays a riff for the crowd. Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
Reneé Rapp pours her heart out in singing a ballad for those at Twin Peaks. Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife.
During the transition between songs, an eager fan held up a sign wishing for Rapp to wish her a happy birthday. While the performer did not make this wish come true, she did admire the girl’s confidence. As a part of the introduction for her song “In The Kitchen,” Rapp told her audience to calm down three times in order to ward off any negative reactions to this song being about a former heterosexual relationship. Rapp told the crowd how she fought for this song and believed in it when no one else did.
As soon as she began to sing “In The Kitchen,” the ballad swept over the audience in a rare moment of calm. The performer’s raw emotions were palpable in every word of the powerful song about being haunted by a boy she loved a long time ago. A wild drum solo capped off the slow chart and riled up the audience, to which Rapp made a fond remark about how she loved when her fans got excited after a ballad.
Before introducing her second to last song, Rapp apologized once again, but this time, not about her past relationships. The singer admitted to the festival goers that she forgot to play this song at a previous performance and needed to bring it back in order to make up for it. From the first lyrics of “Tummy Hurts,” Rapp’s fans didn’t miss a word of the spiteful break-up song.
For her final song of the night, Rapp told the brief story behind her song “Snow Angel.” After struggling to write it, the artist said the ballad finally came to her, allowing her to tell a story that can relate to most women. Although this was the title song of her new album, fans did not sing along, but instead let Rapp have this powerful moment to herself as she stood powerfully in front of the stand-up mic. The ballad eventually thundered to an epic conclusion of light shows, drum hits and beautiful melodies.
While on the Twin Peaks stage, Rapp filled every moment with heartbreakingly relatable emotions that carried over the vast festival grounds of Outside Lands 2024.
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Featured Image Photographed by Caleb Velasquez/BruinLife
