Reneé Rapp experienced a heartwarming full-circle moment when she performed on stage with her musical hero Kesha in New York on Nov. 2. During the most recent leg of Rapp’s Snow Hard Feelings Tour, the 23-year-old actor and singer welcomed Kesha on stage to perform her 2010 hit “Your Love Is My Drug.” As the crowd went wild with excitement, Rapp’s face lit up, slowly reaching a contagious level of joy.
“You are everything to me.”
“I f*cking love you,” Kesha told Rapp in between lyrics. Giddy with excitement and disbelief, Rapp returned Kesha’s “I love you” and bowed to her musical idol. Shortly after the performance, Rapp also updated her website to read “I f*cking love you” as the tagline. Once the song came to a close, the duo shared an enthusiastic hug, exchanging words of praise as they pulled back from the embrace. Though the duet only lasted a few minutes, Rapp, who has admired Kesha since she was a child, rightfully needed a moment to recover.
“the first time I heard kesha was in the back seat of my cousins car when I was 9,” Rapp recalled on Instagram, citing Kesha’s refreshing electropop sound as a point of awakening in her young life. “I remember hearing tiktok for the first time and thinking holy sh*t what am I listening to. i can still see myself in the car freaking out and hearing my cousin say ‘this is kesha.. she is so f*cking cool.’ context; my cousin who is 10 years older than me is the only other gay girl in our family. everything she’s ever told me is cool is f*cking cool. i looked up to my cousin a lot for obvious reasons, so immediately kesha became my hero.”
For Rapp, Kesha became an instant role model. “having a woman in music to admire who was so daring and exciting made me feel like I could say what the f*ck I wanted to say when I wanted to say it,” said Rapp, who released her debut studio album, “Snow Angel,” in August. “that meant everything to a 9 year old girl living in the south who would eventually be told countless times that she was too loud, too harsh, a hoe and not lady like. she changed the game for me. kesha I love you and last night was the greatest night of my life. I will never get over seeing you for the first time off stage right listening to tummy hurts. you are everything to me. what a f*cking honor.”
In the comments section, Kesha praised Rapp’s musical talent and success. “I’m so proud of you bby. Your voice, style, your YOUness,” she said. “I wish I caught that moment on camera. it’s in my head forevss.” As Kesha stepped off stage immediately following their performance, Rapp shouted more “I love yous” and took a second to compose herself. “I might cry,” she told the audience.
On Oct. 31, days before her momentous Kesha duet, Rapp fed further into the 2000s nostalgia by dressing up as “Baby”-era Justin Bieber. During the show, Rapp — wearing Bieber’s matching hoodie and baseball cap combo — serenaded “The Summer I Turned Pretty” star Lola Tung with a cover of “One Less Lonely Girl.”
Thanks to fans on TikTok who captured her sweet encounter with Kesha, you can relive the pivotal moment when Rapp met her childhood hero here. Ahead, see Rapp and Kesha tear up the stage at the Avant Gardner in Brooklyn, NY.
