Reneé Rapp got the chance to perform with one of her heroes, Kesha, bringing out the pop star for a rendition of “Your Love Is My Drug” during her concert in Brooklyn last night, Nov. 2.
The performance started with Rapp delivering the song solo, swapping the original’s pulsing 2010 synths for some pop-punk style palm-muted power chords. After Rapp ran through the first verse and chorus, Kesha herself took the stage and the song to new dizzying, delirious, breathless heights.
Before launching into “Your Love Is My Drug,” Rapp shared a few words with the crowd about Kesha’s influence, saying, “There are a couple of people in my life musically, and personally, and professionally, who I look up to and regard so highly. They just shaped who I was a kid… and made me want to be sexy, and funny, and exciting, and outrageous, and loud, and most of all — really fucking sexy. So, what better way to honor one of those women by playing one of those songs.”
Earlier this week, Rapp kicked off her run of New York City shows across the East River in Manhattan, where she welcomed a different special guest, singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine. Together, they nodded to Rapp’s recent Broadway past with a rendition of the classic Wicked duet, “For Good.”
While Rapp didn’t appear in Wicked, one of her big early breaks was starring in the musical adaptation of Mean Girls on Broadway (and she’s set to reprise her role as Regina George in the upcoming film version of the musical). As she told Rolling Stone this summer, though, she was always adamant that Broadway was to be a stepping stone for the pop music career she’s now embracing.
“I told them, ‘I will only take this job if you promise to help me in my music career one day,’” Rapp said, referring to early conversations shared with producers Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels. “‘I want to be a pop star. I do not want to do this forever.’”
Rapp has been able to lean into pop over the past couple of years, releasing an EP, Everything to Everyone, last November and dropping her debut album, Snow Angel, back in August. Rapp will wrap up the North American leg of her Snow Hard Feelings tour tour tonight, Nov. 3, with one more show in New York City. She’ll then play a couple of gigs in the U.K., with a more full-fledged European tour scheduled for next year.
