“Miss Congeniality” is the sapphic anthem you need this summer. Do you remember watching Miss Congeniality (2000) and feeling an odd kinship with Sandra Bullock’s character? Bubble-grunge independent musician Rivkah Reyes has figured it out too well. Inspired by the explosion of a potential relationship, “Miss Congeniality” examines performing in relationships yet remaining the second choice. Beyond the heartfelt message, it’s the beginning of a new chapter that introduces Reyes as an artist to watch. 

The Chicago-born artist started her path through acting on the comedy School of Rock (2003) and continued to appear in various projects throughout her career. Now she’s pursuing music entirely as she backs away from being ‘the girl in the band’ to become the frontwoman. After releasing a series of singles that show her skills as a singer-songwriter, “Miss Congeniality” marks a new beginning in her artist identity. 

When talking about her new music, Reyes described it as “sapphic doomcore situationship bangers.” Peppered with the influence of the 2000 film, “Miss Congeniality” approaches the topic of changing one’s personality to fit within a relationship—a pattern that Reyes admits she’s aware of in the moment but can’t change. Despite tailoring to be with a specific person, the relationship still doesn’t bloom beyond the talking stage. It’s a common experience that a lot of sapphics in today’s dating scene encounter. It makes the song all the more catchy. 

Reyes brings forth a visual dimension pertaining to the inspiration with the music video as well. Filmed at a boxing club in New York, she leans into the fighting aspect paired with femininity that honors the film. Wearing a sash that labels her as a ‘Sapphic Menace’ paired with a pageant crown and bruises, all in hues of pink, Reyes shows how brutal being let down continuously can feel. 

All Too Creative spoke with Reyes about the details behind her new single “Miss Congeniality.”  

ATC:  How would you describe your artist identity? 

REYES: I am a bubble-grunge singer-songwriter for the girls, gays and theys. Anyone who resonates with the idea of being in a lot of half relationships or almost relationships that never really see the light of day. I’ve been playing guitar since I was four. Everything I make has a lot of guitar in it. I’ve also been saying I’m a pop star with a guitar. I’m heavily inspired by grunge and pop-punk. I’m also heavily inspired by girly pop, Charli xcx, the divas of yesterday and today.

ATC: You’ve been in a band and you decided to go solo. What are you most excited about for this new chapter of your artistry?

REYES: I’m excited to be a front woman. I will always play with a band. I think I thrive when I’m in a band, but I’m excited to be the one with the microphone. I’ve been the only girl in a band, or the bassist just hanging in the back and singing background vocals occasionally… But I’ve been writing songs for so long that it’s time for me to just get those out there. I am working on assembling a band of hot lesbians. We’re gonna have fun. 

ATC: We need more female bands, more than just one woman in the band.

REYES: Girl bands are so powerful. One of my earliest influences was The Runaways, seeing these feral teenage girls rock out. Avril Lavigne too, I’ve been performing “I’m With You” at my live shows. I’ll usually close my set with a cover, and I’ll do that one. That one’s a real crowd pleaser. 

ATC: How does “Miss Congeniality” the song tie in with the video?

REYES: I had to pay homage to the movie with the visuals of the crown and the pageantry of it all, but also… The character in the movie, Gracie, is a weapon. She is a fighting girl, and so I thought it would be fun to have a bit of that juxtaposition of the hyper femininity with the bruises, a little rough around the edges. That also ties in with the song. It’s overtly girly but it is this feral anthem of power and rage and anger. That came from this primal place for me when I wrote it, that I wanted to capture it on film. I have a filmmaking background as well as a music background, so I always love getting to do music videos or visualizers to blend the worlds.

ATC: Tell me more about your filmmaking background.

REYES: I didn’t go to film school or anything like that. I was an actress as well as a musician growing up. I still do acting here and there, although lately I’ve pivoted pretty hard into music. Where I really do love getting to work in film is when I’m working on a friend’s project. Or when I’ve written something that has to be made into a short or anything else. 

I love acting so much, I love being on camera. I want to direct films someday, so getting started with music videos is where a lot of film directors start. I’m starting to wear the director hat here and there with some of these music videos. I’m working with great directors with experience so that I can observe and see how they do things. To be a director, you don’t have to have any experience, which is pretty awesome so I’m having fun with all of it. 

ATC: You filmed the video in a queer and trans boxing club. How did you know that this was the place for you to bring the song to life? 

REYES: The place is OutBox in Bushwick. My friend Vaughn, who is another artist, she’s an amazing musician and DJ, she’s also a boxing coach there. I was like, “Where am I going to shoot this thing?” and then I was just like, “There’s a queer boxing gym down the street from me.” I talked to the owner, his name’s Max and he’s a super sweet trans guy. I was like, “Dude, I would love to come in here and shoot for a couple hours for my music video. Here’s the song, here’s the concept,” and he immediately said yes.

My friend Katie shot the video and directed it with me. We went to do a location scout, and we saw everything was perfect. It was relatively empty during the weekdays, so I was just like, “Great, we come on a weekday when there’s no classes going on, we get in, we shoot our stuff, and we get out.” We were going to do a little visualizer, it wasn’t going to be super high concept with much of a narrative. Once we got in there I was like, “No, we’re making a movie now.” 

I knew we had to film at OutBox because I wasn’t going to have to deal with male personalities bossing me around, telling me what I could and couldn’t do. It was a supportive environment. It felt safe. I wasn’t at any point feeling like I was being judged, or that some guy was gonna come and tell me his opinion on my form. I love boxing. It’s a fun outlet and I intend to take more classes when I get back to the city. It was a good opportunity for me to get more people interested in OutBox as well.

ATC: Was it the place that inspired you for the music video idea, or did the idea come first?

REYES: I had the vision for the video first. I knew I wanted to shoot in a boxing gym, or something that could look like a boxing gym. Luckily this one existed and they were so willing to help me out. I’m so indebted to them for the rest of my life. I want to host an event there soon. I think it would be really cool to have a listening party. 

ATC: I love that it all worked out, it feels like stars aligning.

REYES: That’s that’s how it did feel, because there was a moment where I was like, “Is this video even gonna happen?”… It all happened very quickly. We were really scrappy with it. It was only a team of three people, and we had a photographer on set to take stills. My friend, who played my love interest slash boxing coach in the video, is one of my best friends who was down to roll around with me and have fun. 

I’m really grateful for how quickly it came together. I’m often afraid of asking my friends for help, or asking people to do favors for my projects, but people are generally supportive. They want me to succeed (laughs). As an artist, having to ask for help is really scary, but I’m excited about making more videos, making more music, and seeing how I can continue to expand my artistry.

ATC: The single is inspired by the film Miss Congeniality. Could you give us a background on how this movie came into your life and what it means to you?

REYES: It’s been one of my favorite movies for a very long time. I watched it with my mom when I was a kid, and I was like, “Hell yeah, that’s badass.” Watching Sandra Bullock be this hyper feminine, essentially a drag queen, when deep inside she’s this rough-around-the-edges, feral fighter girl who works for the FBI. I resonated with this thing of being undercover and having a secret identity, living a double life. It’s been one of my comfort movies. 

When I take flights, for my first movie on the plane, I’ll put on a movie that I’ve already seen a bunch. Something that I feel comforted by so that if I wake up and there’s turbulence, I have something comfy that’s on the TV screen. On this one particular flight, I put on Miss Congeniality. When I woke up, it was the scene where he pushes her into the pool. I started journaling, I do a lot of poetry writing and songwriting on planes, and I started writing “Miss Congeniality.” I recently had a romantic endeavor explode and I had the sense of being the ‘almost girlfriend,’ and then having this person pick a safer choice. It could be a fun anthem for the girl who is always the unforgettable, the fan favorite, but never the one who wins in the end.

ATC: I love when movies inspire you to write about your own life and your own experiences.

REYES: I’m constantly watching movies. I’m constantly being inspired by not only movies but TV and music and poetry and art in general and pop culture. I’ve recently written about Billy Joel and the Coldplay Jumbotron moment where the guy was cheating on his wife with a woman who worked for him. I pull inspiration from what is relevant in culture or things that are super niche. I’ll go back into the void of my memory, things from my childhood, but this one felt really special because it was so heavily referenced, or referential to one of my favorite movies of all time.

ATC: You released some singles in 2024 and 2025 but “Miss Congeniality” feels like a new beginning. What did you discover about the music that you wanted to make in the time between those singles and this one?

REYES: With “sick” and “another vice,” and even “big league chew” which felt really close to the type of stuff I wanted to make, like leaning into that Y2K sound. That was the era that I grew up in, and that is the era that I listen to. When I wrote “sick” and “another vice,” they just poured out of me, whereas “big league chew” was a co-write with one of my good friends Brasco from LA. The new stuff, I’ve been working on with my friend Constantine (Blonder) who also produced “big league chew.” He knows what he’s doing, and I wanted to work on more stuff with him so we got together and made a bunch of songs. They’re all so good. I’m really excited about all of the new stuff because they feel very authentic to me. 

ATC: What can you tell us about what’s coming next?

REYES: Expect more music from me. I’m excited to see how people resonate with the new sound and the new stuff. If it’s any indicator, “Miss Congeniality” is doing pretty well. I’m excited to make more people happy with the stuff that I’m working on. I’m excited to make more music videos, because that’s always so fun. What else can I say? That’s really it. Hopefully getting this band of butches together to do some live shows, could be really fun.

ATC: Who would you recommend your music to? 

REYES: Literally anyone. If you like The Beaches, MUNA, Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp, but also if you’re of an older generation and your favorite band was No Doubt. Or if you grew up on Hilary Duff. I would throw in Joan Jett as one of them as well. For fans of Y2K nostalgia, for people who are sick of yearning and feel that their sensibilities are more feral in nature, more disgusting. If you grew up watching School of Rock, I mean… Come on! People have been very curious to know what the little gay looking bassist from School of Rock is up to, and I am proud to say it is this.

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