If the 2010s were a haven for the actress-to-singer pipeline, launching the careers of Mileys, Demis and Arianas, the 2020s might be a renaissance. Sabrina Carpenter has slowly been building an empire, but Rodrigo and Reneé Rapp have exploded, fueling a new, charismatic explosion of pop rock. Unlike Rodrigo, Rapp was never employed by Disney, yet the swells on her debut album Snow Angel wandered into undue tenderness. But BITE ME, her sophomore record, has a more exacting sound, unafraid to not take itself too seriously and overflowing with charisma.

Rapp — who in interviews is refreshingly honest, unable to read a room and all the better for it — brings a similar energy to these songs; the album mostly keeps the pace after the killer drawl of the opening line, “I’m a real bad girl, but a real good kisser.” That song, the buzzy and gritty “Leave Me Alone,” spreads its ire toward people like her manager, begging for more songs, her former HBO employer, and basically anyone who tries to kill her vibe. “Party in the Hills, people tryna talk business,” she sighs, sounding like she’s genuinely about to freak out and break something if one more person asks about an album rollout while she’s in line for a drink. It toes a line between corny and comedy, but thankfully, never falls.

BITE ME’s at its best when the raging guitars slam up against Rapp’s performance — ever the actress. “You’d Like That Wouldn’t You” is pure revenge fantasy, combining the wrath of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now and Rodrigo’s cheekiness (“I swear I would never ever ever cheat… Again!”); she belts out sexual instructions on “Shy” before pulling out a spoken-word bridge (“Baby, I’ll do things that exes won’t”); she scraps plans to be in bed by 10 on “Good Girl. One song is plainly titled “At Least I’m Hot.” BITE ME winks as much as it snarls.

There might be a lot of dress-up, but when Rapp weighs her voice down with emotion, infusing it with little notes and details invisible in most pop, it’s a powerful message as any. “We could have been cute and we could have been stupid,” she pleads on “Mad,” rolling her eyes at someone who’s left her hanging. “We could’ve been having sex!” She puts on her best Amy Winehouse for “Why Is She Still Here?” a pretty stunning examination of jealousy. Though BITE ME stumbles through some different genres — the soft balladry of “Sometimes,” 80s synths on “Good Girl” — her stage-ready voice leads the way.

Years removed from the HBO show that made her a star, less so from last year’s less successful Mean Girls reboot, Rapp feels at odds with the ecosystem that propped her up — “Leave me alone, bitch, I wanna have fun,” she begs, with the knowledge that this request might not be honored. Stardom might take some more time to figure out, but at least Rapp is making her way with some angsty, unruly pop.

order Bite Me by Renee Rap HERE