On 'Bite Me,' Reneé Rapp punches back

NEW YORK (AP) — Reneé Rapp was clear on her intentions for her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” from the start.

“I wanted to love this,” Rapp says. “I wanted to be able to walk away from this and be so proud of myself and impressed, no matter what anybody else thought.” Her first album, 2023's “Snow Angel, ” had been an experiment in figuring out her sound (a mix of pop, R&B and heart-wrenching ballads), and assembling a collection of songs that worked together. This album, out Friday, offered the chance to do it again, with an eye toward the way her life had changed in the intervening years.

“That intention, and also wanting to prove it to myself, was really grueling,” Rapp told The Associated Press. “And also really fun.”

The writing process gave Rapp, 25, an outlet to work through the burnout-inducing whirlwind that was her career in those two years. Uncharacteristically restrained in its vocal styling, the album's lead single, “Leave Me Alone,” is strikingly open — clever zingers allude to her departure from HBO’s “Sex Lives of College Girls,” the media frenzy that surrounded her turn as Regina in the 2024 remake of “Mean Girls,” and the external pressure she felt to put out more music after the positive reception of “Snow Angel.” Basically, anything that's been said about her in the last few years? She reframes it, poking fun at her reputation and the industry.

“Leave Me Alone” felt like a proper introduction to the album, Rapp says, and “Bite Me” — both a warning and a tease — the appropriate title. Paris Hilton and Monica Lewinsky were among the famous faces that teased the album upon its announcement, donning merch emblazoned with the title in bold print. Rapp herself posed in front of a newsstand filled with mock tabloids depicting her as a diva, concealed behind big sunglasses and a fur coat, to promote the second single, “Mad.” (“That's a Rapp!” the headline read.)

“It really feels just like a time capsule of those two years of my life, a lot having to do with the business and the industry and people’s expectations of me,” Rapp says of the album. “And then also me wanting things for myself and being confused where those two roads diverge.”

Rapp's confidence and humor is evident across the album, just as it is on stage — “I write lyrics in the way that I talk,” she says. Many of the tracks tackle the destabilizing emotions that accompany the beginning and end of relationships, whether platonic or romantic, and how her now-very public career has amplified the challenges of creating, and maintaining, those connections.

“I’m so surrounded all the time, but I feel so lonely, and it feels really heavy and isolating. And I think a lot of that is just being an artist. And I also think a lot of that is just like the nature of like the business, for better or for worse," she says. The can't-be-bothered attitude heard on “Leave Me Alone” is countered by the ache of “That's So Funny,” which recounts the end of a deeply affecting, but ultimately toxic friendship in Rapp's signature soaring vocals.

That doesn't mean Rapp isn't also having fun. The cheeky “At Least I'm Hot” features Rapp's girlfriend, the singer and guitarist Towa Bird. “I love when artists give you a clue into their lives, and the people who make their lives full,” Rapp said. The track, she says, is also just funny: “Who better to put on that than like the funniest person alive?”

The album's mix of emotions — heartache followed by the rush of a new crush, the impostor syndrome that accompanies the thrill of success — is something the AP Breakthrough Entertainer alum has been exploring since her 2022 EP, “Everything to Everyone.” She wants listeners to feel the conflict, too — and know that they aren't alone in experiencing it.

In June, Rapp served as a grand marshal of the World Pride parade in Washington, D.C., alongside Laverne Cox and Deacon Maccubbin. “It can be difficult to feel resilient and empowered as a queer person,” Rapp said. “Because World Pride was in D.C., I was like, well, I can’t not be there.” She recalled a conversation with Cox, who dispelled some of Rapp's fears of coming off as self-important in the role by emphasizing the power of showing up, and showing face. “Right now, when everything is so under attack, which it pretty much always is, it feels like that’s the time to be really loud.”

Rapp will launch the North American leg of her “Bite Me” tour at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater in September before making stops at New York's Madison Square Garden and as a headliner at the Toronto stop of the All Things Go Festival. She'll tour Europe in March.

As she readies for fans to hear the album, she hopes it offers them some reprieve. “I hope that the weight of the world doesn’t feel as massive,” she said. “It’s really easy to obsess over everything and be constantly lost in your head.”

Giving them a glimpse into hers, she hopes, is empowering — and fun: “It’s just, it feels like a big party that like everybody wants in on.”

Renee Rapp poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

Renee Rapp poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

Renee Rapp poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

Renee Rapp poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying urns with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The shoes of Cuban soldiers clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, with the urns and placed them on a long table next to the pictures of those slain so people could pay their respects.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.

Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.

The official announcer indicated that they were “combatants” who had been “wounded” in Venezuela. They were greeted by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.

Those injured and the bodies of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and U.S., with President Donald Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb as commander of Cuba's Armed Forces, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those slain looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casa said Venezuela was not a distant land for those killed, but a “natural extension of their homeland.”

“The enemy speaks to an audience of high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy,” Álvarez said in apparent reference to the U.S. “We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother.”

Álvarez called those slain “heroes,” saying that they were example of honor and “a lesson for those who waver.”

“We reaffirm that if this painful chapter of history has demonstrated anything, it is that imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Thousands of Cubans lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” said Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, adding that she hopes no one invades given the ongoing threats.

When asked why she showed up despite the difficulties Cubans face, Gómez replied, "It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”

Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel — ranging in age from 26 to 60 — who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island’s two security agencies.

Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.

“People are upset and hurt. There’s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders living in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes returning to their island.

In December 1989, officials organized “Operation Tribute” to honor the remains of more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

A day before the remains of those slain arrived in Cuba, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced $3 million in relief aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa, which struck in late October.

The first flight took off from Florida on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

“We have taken extraordinary measures to ensure that this assistance reaches the Cuban people directly, without interference or diversion by the illegitimate regime,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. government was working with Cuba's Catholic Church.

The announcement riled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.

“The U.S. government is exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes,” he said in a statement. “As a matter of principle, Cuba does not oppose assistance from governments or organizations, provided it benefits the people and the needs of those affected are not used for political gain under the guise of humanitarian aid.”

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)