Tonight (January 20) marked a very special night for Reneé Rapp. Hot of the premiere of the movie-musical adaptation of Mean Girls, in which, she reprised her role of Regina George from the Broadway adaptation, Rapp made her debut on Saturday Night Live as the first musical guest of 2024.
In her first performance of the night, Rapp delivered a raw, emotional performance of “Snow Angel,” the title track from her debut album.
During the performance, Rapp laid flat on the floor, letting her vocals take charge. Dressed in a white corset and a matching leather coat, she rises up maintaining an ethereal presence throughout. White fog adds to the the icy, cold feeling of the emotional, gut-wrenching ballad.
Last September, Rapp opened up about the songwriting and production process on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast and revealed that it was written after a traumatic experience. It was one of the final songs she recorded with producer Alexander 23.
“We started writing it, and it was just the two of us. And the entire time I was writing it, I felt nothing,” Rapp said. “Until we recorded the song and the whole thing was done and I played it for my friends and my manager and everybody was like, ‘This is insane.’ But for me, that whole year of my life was inherent resilience.”
reneé’s best performance of “snow angel” EVER pic.twitter.com/QqqbrbMmdi
— jamie | MG MONTH (@itsjamielh) January 21, 2024
You can see a clip of the performance of “Snow Angel” above.