“Her law degree may not be real… but she did go to Stanford for a bit.”
Reneé Rapp says her mom named her for the music career she knew she’d have: Click the arrow for the article highlights.
Strategic naming by mom: Reneé's mother Denise deliberately chose both her first and last names to have alliteration (double R's) "just in case she wants to be a pop star" before Reneé was even born, essentially manifesting her daughter's future career.
Early musical immersion: Rapp's parents constantly played music around her from infancy, making it "an inherent big thing" and "such a big part of my life" from birth, while she knew she wanted to be a singer from her earliest memories.
Competitive parental guidance: Both parents were musically inclined and took a strict, honest approach to developing her talent, with her father Charles regularly pushing her to improve by asking "what could you have done differently?" after performances.
Mother knows best, just ask theater star turned pop star Reneé Rapp.
(Warning: The below link contains language some readers may find offensive.)
During a conversation on actress Amy Pohler’s “Good Hang” podcast, Rapp explained how her name came to be.
While many performers are known to use a stage name, rather than their given name, Rapp explained she didn’t have to worry about that.
Why? Because her mom, Denise, was aware of her stardom from the start.
"My mom chose my first and last name to be, well, okay, arguably chose my first and last name to both have [two letter R's]," the 25-year-old singer explained.
"She was like, 'alliteration, just in case she wants to be a pop star' before I was born."
Jokingly calling her mom “conceited,” Rapp praised her mom for manifesting her destiny, saying she’s “obsessed with the way she did it."
"I'm like, thank you, God,” Rapp continued telling Pohler, who responded saying, "She gave you a pop star name just in case, because Reneé Rapp is a huge pop star name."
During a 2023 conversation with People, Rapp revealed her mom’s intuition was spot on. She told People that from "the second I remember having thoughts” she wanted to be a singer.
"My introduction to music was honestly pretty young. My parents were always very, very, very adamant about constantly playing music whenever I was anywhere as a baby," she said at the time.
Mod Moms Club: MGK walks AMA red carpet then immediately leaves because of his infant daughter
"It had to be going, music had to be playing. So I think it just became an inherent big thing for me ever since I was born. It was just such a big part of my life."
Rapp told Pohler that her father, Charles, is also “very musically inclined,” revealing that her parents were strict and honest about her talent growing up.
It’s something Charles himself talked about in a 2023 interview with The Los Angeles Time.
"I’m very competitive, and I think Denise is competitive," Charles told The LA Times.
"Growing up, we would tell Reneé if [her voice] didn’t sound good. I used to tell her, ‘OK, that was fantastic, Reneé, but what could you have done differently? How could you have done it better?’"
