We get it – it’s just too much. So this year, we’re giving our editors a last-minute chance to fill in what might have been missed. Check out everything you should really be reading, watching or listening to – plus more of our review coverage from this year – here.
I’m a huge fan of actor Reneé Rapp on HBO’s University Girls’ Sex Lives , but I’ll be honest: when I heard she’s also a musician, I thought it was another case of a Hollywood female project, wouldn’t necessarily be… ok Alright, OK. ) Who has a very average band? ) Anyway, chalk it up to extreme ignorance, because once I actually listened to Rapp’s debut EP, Everything To Everyone, which comes out in November, I was completely blown away obsessed with.
To be fair, I might become a subconscious fan of any queer pop star, and indeed, Rapp is The openly bisexual def really got me more excited about parsing her lyrics. Unlike #Gaylor’s conspiracy, it doesn’t take much perusing to find the queer subtext on Rapp’s album; “What Can I Do” is about holding you when your boyfriend is in the bathroom Experience at the hands of friends – of course, this is a totally straight forward thing – and I must say, I may have been lucky enough to end up chasing straight girls in my life stage, but the song is still very popular.
Other songs like “Don’t Tell My Mom” - a heartbreaking ode to trying to act out to the people in your life when you’re feeling the very opposite Well done – and the raw but upbeat “Colorado” (which explores the long-term alluring promise of moving to a new city and becoming a whole new person) was a straight hit when I first heard them to my solar plexus. And then, of course, there’s “Too Well.” If I can overshare my life, this song feels like an antidote to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” played at full volume as I drive around Austin after my last breakup. Rodrigo’s song is all about screaming catharsis, and “Too Well” is about the next stage of a breakup, the subtle but important stage where you’re finally lucky enough to start healing, and it’s completely insane to hear your ex’s name without leaving (whatever how, most of the time).
