EP Review: Reneé Rapp, ‘Everything to Everyone’
Just a week before HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls returned for an already-hilarious second season, series star Reneé Rapp released her debut EP. Titled Everything to Everyone, the new EP is Reneé’s formal entry into the world of mainstream pop. While the project is a glowing vocal showcase, Everything to Everyone struggles to carve out a unique sound for Reneé. Across the record, she does her best to emulate the different sounds of latter-2010s pop breakouts, but everything feels expendable because nothing feels singular.
The EP’s opener doubles as its title track; it’s an arresting number that blends the subtle darkness of Billie Eilish’s tone with playful “Midnight Rain”-esque vocal filters and stacked harmonies à la Ariana Grande. From the onset, Everything to Everyone digs its heels in the sand of established pop stars. This isn’t a problem at all, but it becomes one of the EP’s biggest obstacles because there’s not much innovation beyond that already-trodden ground.
“In the Kitchen,” the project’s lead single, remains a histrionic ballad with a formidable vocal performance. It’s obvious why the dramatic lovelorn track with the torch song chorus was chosen as the lead single, but “Colorado” is the closest Reneé gets to delivering a genuinely exciting song. Thanks to a melody infused with elements of pure pop and country, “Colorado” offers both the project’s rare tempo increase and a chance for Reneé to truly try her hand at the pop star game.
Interscope
Everything to Everyone is heavy on the ballads. From “Don’t Tell My Mom” to “What Can I Do,” none of them are particularly memorable because they rely on overdone lyrical tropes and dreary melodies that are only bearable because of Reneé’s consistently strong vocal performances. “Colorado,” and “Too Well” for that matter, allow Reneé to move away from resting on her musical theatre vocal foundation and transition into a performance space more closely aligned with the conventions of Top 40 radio. She wears the unassuming pop-rock vibe of “Too Well” confidently, and the uptick in tempo helps the EP chug along. “Moon,” the album’s closer, falters with its subdued production and an overall composition that lacks the grandiosity necessary to ground smart lines like “how can I be dead to you when we're lookin' at the same moon?”
Everything to Everyone is an ironic title. The EP finds Reneé trying on different sounds so she can literally be everything to everyone, but, despite a few sporadic glimpses of a concise and focused vision, it’s all at the expense of solidifying a singular sound for the budding star.
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Key Tracks: “In The Kitchen” | “Colorado” | “Moon”
Score: 60
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