Reneé Rapp Revealed This Song Is Inspired By Her Crush On A SLOCG Co-Star
"I don’t even think I’ve ever told her that I wrote it about her."
When Reneé Rapp released the deluxe version of her debut album Snow Angel on Nov. 17, one track immediately stood out to fans. “I Do” is an incredibly personal confessional about Rapp’s unrequited crush on a close friend. And now, three months after its release, Rapp has revealed who inspired the song: an actor she worked closely with on Sex Lives of College Girls.
In “I Do,” Rapp sings about her tortured feelings of romantic love for someone who only considers her a friend. “When we're saying, ‘I love you’ / I mean it different than you do,” Rapp confesses, detailing how she wishes the platonic connection could reach another level.
Turns out, the person Rapp was singing about is her Sex Lives of College Girls co-star Alyah Chanelle Scott. Rapp and Scott play college roommates Leighton and Whitney in the Max series. During press tours for the show and Instagram Lives together, many fans picked up on the genuine connection between Rapp and Scott, inspiring several edits highlighting their friendship.
Rapp opened up about her song’s muse in a Feb. 28 Hollywood Reporter profile. When asked who inspired “I Do,” Rapp confirmed: “My best friend Alyah.”
“I don’t even think I’ve ever told her that I wrote it about her,” Rapp continued. “But I remember being like, ‘I love you so much, and this feels so romantic in a platonic way, but I don’t understand how to explain it.’ And I now know that it was so much more complicated in my sexuality.”
Rapp began publicly identifying as bisexual in 2022, and has recently started identifying as a lesbian in 2024. She hinted that her feelings for Scott were part of her queer awakening.
“I was like, ‘Wait, you feel completely different to me than a boy does, and I love you. So am I in love with you?’ I’m like, ‘What the f*ck?’” Rapp said. “And I now know that she’s just my fucking rock, and I just don’t think I like boys.”
But now, Rapp is about to leave the suite where her complicated feelings were born. She will have a reduced role in the upcoming third season of SLOCG, and then depart from the series for good.
