Reneé Rapp Is Done With Plaid

Reneé Rapp may despise her wardrobe, but she otherwise sees pieces of herself in her Sex Lives of College Girls character Leighton Murray. On the hit HBO Max comedy, Rapp plays a preppy, upper-class A-student who brings Upper West Side style to a fictional Vermont school. In season two, Leighton has been on something of a lesbian rollercoaster, coming out to her dormmates, entering her hot girl era, catching chlamydia due to said hot girl era, crushing on a doppelgänger, and dealing with ex drama.

“I feel like I actually just played like a hyper-conscious version of Renee who is slightly more ignorant but just as hot,” Rapp tells me of her approach to playing Leighton this season.

Much like Leighton, Rapp has an array of talents that she’s ready to share with the world. Earlier this year, Rapp released several banger pop/R&B singles, including “In the Kitchen” and “Too Well,” leading up to her first EP Everything to Everyone. As of this writing, Rapp is currently on her first ever concert tour performing her music to sold-out venues across the country — and she is elated about it. “I’m not even spiritual, but I prayed for this my entire life,” Rapp says. 

With her singing dreams coming to fruition, Rapp is continuing to pursue acting; in fact, shortly before this interview, Paramount announced that the rising star would be reprising her role as Regina George in a film adaptation of the Mean Girls musical, which she starred in on Broadway.

Ahead of the season two finale of College Girls airing this Thursday on HBO Max, Rapp talked with Them about the beauty of Leighton’s coming-out arc, her fiery relationship with her character’s wardrobe, and the joy of touring with her new EP.

Leighton went through a rollercoaster this season. What was your reaction to getting all of these arcs?

Leighton is written so brilliantly. I feel like I don’t have that hard of a job when it comes to making it come off the page because it really just does so naturally. I think the cool things and the intricacies about her character this season are so all over the place. They’re just fucking everywhere. It’s also really interesting to see an STD storyline approached in a comedic sense that doesn’t shame someone, which I think is really great — especially because it’s not shaming a queer character. Now, don’t get me wrong, she fucks up. Like, I think she actually should have been a touch more ashamed — not for the STD part but just for, like, the way she handled it. There’s so many tiny little things that she’s going through this season that are so blown up that when I watch the show back, I’m like, “Jesus Christ. I don’t remember any of that.”

Leighton’s coming-out story is such a pivotal shift for her this season. How was it exploring that story? Were there any parallels that you drew between yourself and Leighton?

I think Rob Huebel, who plays my dad, is such an amazing actor and actually scarily looks a lot like my dad. Like, it’s a bit of a jump scare. But I think for that reason — and also because I think the world of Rob — it made it so easy to act with him in that scene. I didn’t really have that parallel of the coming-out experience, to be quite honest. I appreciate that scene with Rob so much because I do think it’s really nice that, you see a character who is written to be accepted and kind of glorified for her queerness. The bisexual girls, man, they root for everybody — and I’m saying that because that’s me. So I think it’s cool to see this character who is written to be accepted and beloved, but she’s also horrible in so many other ways. I loved her coming-out story. I thought it was really pure. And Rob is so awesome. He was the perfect actor to do that with. And it made me feel like I have a cute coming-out in a way.

What was your process for lowering Leighton’s emotional barriers over the course of the season and also embracing her nerdy side?

I’m so emotional as a human being. That, to me, is the easiest part of Leighton. The harder parts were the math stuff. I fucking hate math. The whole point of my job is to act. I get that. That being said, man, I hate math. I would say those lines and I was just like, “Oh my god, what the fuck am I saying?” I never once believed myself, to be clear. 

What would you say were your best subjects in school?

None. I had undiagnosed ADHD. And I had anxiety. And I just detested school. I was so scared at school every single day. And that manifested in me being a bitch. I was so bad. My schooling years really traumatized me. I think about it every now and again. And I’m like, “Oh, my God. I don’t want to know what I said, what I did, who I talked to, who I made enemies with, who I kissed.” Oh, God, it just scares the shit out of me. Yeah, I was not good.

Switching over from acting to music with your EP, what’s it like to balance the actor’s life with the musician’s life? 

It’s wild because I started acting so that I could do music. I needed to get people’s attention and somehow force people to give a fuck about me. And so I was like, “Great, I’ll utilize someone else’s platform to do that.” And then I sort of fell in love with acting in a way. 

I think the coolest thing is knowing that I can do other things because I was terrified that I was a really bad actor for a very long time. To be honest, I never thought I was going to act again after College Girls. I was like, “Oh, well, I did College Girls, I got a record label, I did the thing.” And then when Mean Girls started to be in conversation again, I was like “I don’t know, maybe I might be OK to act again. Twist my arm, fine.” 

Making the album was so amazing and so cathartic, but it was difficult because we were filming every day, obviously. I was emotionally depleted so it actually ended up serving, in all of our favor. It came out to be quite good, I hope. I don’t know, it’s been such a weird year, there’s been so much going on, in a great way, and I’m so lucky. I really do feel so fucking thankful at the same time. I don’t have time to process any of it. I’ve just been flying.

How were the first few tour days? Just seeing the footage of you and your fans going at it is so electric.

It’s so fucking weird. I watch the videos all the time. It is so un-fucking-believably exciting and so cool. That is the biggest payoff I’ve ever had in my entire life, for my career, my emotional self, and my business self, whatever the fuck you want to call it. That is the moment that I have wanted. And I’m not even spiritual, but I prayed for this my entire life. I still don’t even know. I genuinely have no words for it. It’s the greatest feeling that I’ve ever had in my entire life. And I’m so excited to finish the rest of the tour.

Out of the songs on your EP, which do you think is the perfect one to lose your voice to?

I feel like a place to lose your voice is “Too Well.” That song is just unreasonably difficult to sing for no real good reason. I’ll be singing it in my set and I’ll be like, “Woof, Jesus fucking Christ.” If there’s any song you lose your voice to it’s that, because I hate singing that alone. 

Looking ahead to the future of College Girls — and without giving too much away — how do you feel about where Leighton ends up in the finale and her future at Essex College?

There are certain things that happen in the finale that I think are really great for Leighton. I think you leave with her in a place of self-discovery, again. I know all of these girls and people on the show in general are just kind of going through sort of self-discovery/realization and realizing like, “Oh, fuck, there’s a real world.” I think for Leighton, a lot of ignorant shit she says gets so glazed over because you can tell she’s so smart and she’s so stupid in so many ways. And you see that really sort of start to unravel by the end of the season in a way that scares the shit out of her. But it will propel her to a very comfortable place and I’m really excited to see whatever the hell she does next. 

I just want her to dress differently. I get it. I totally understand. Everybody’s like “No, it’s so nice to see a hyper femme preppy version of a lesbian woman.” No! I’m tired. I’m done wearing a plaid skirt. I’m actually done. I’m so glad that the femmes are femme-ing. I’m done! I’ve had enough! I’m so sick of it. I never want to wear another skirt again. One day, I’m gonna have my like hyper-sex phase. Like, I know it’s coming. I know it’s gonna be hot. I want to have that era, like my pop star moment where people go, “Oh my god everybody’s worried about her. She’s a little off the rails.” Um, but fuck that for now. I’m sick of it.

I always end up here by the way, anybody’s whose talking to me about College Girls, I’m like, “Oh my god blah blah blah, I fucking hate those outfits!” I love where Leighton ends up, I just hate those fucking clothes.

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Next season, we cut to a fire burning in the night and you’re in the background with the clothes…

I’m like, “I don’t know what happened! Climate change is crazy now.”

What would you love to see Leighton do for the next season or so?

I have personal goals for Leighton that I don’t think the internet agrees with. I want to see Leighton be really in love — and in love in a way that I don’t think she actually can be right now. I think she’s like a baby. But I want to see her really just dive into love. And I also want to see her come out of that and have a glow-up again. The skirts have got to stop. That’s a hate crime. It’s rude.

Would you like for her to possibly have a musical side to her or possibly? 

I mean, she has to. I think it would be so hot if she did. She needs to become a songwriter. I would love her to write songs. Because I also think it’s so nice. Like, I think a big part of like the cool duality of Leighton would be that she’s so comedic and such a bitch yet she writes these really deep, thought-provoking, internal conversation songs. I think that would actually be really cool.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Sex Lives of College Girls is available on HBO Max.

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