The Queer Pop Perfection of Chappell Roan
Twelve years tirelessly working, just to have your work thrown back in your face. Producing and curating music that wouldn’t blow up until years to come. With this growth, you take on and cultivate your fans, while the producers continue to immerse themselves in the vicious, never-ending competition to get the best hits. But worst of all, you have to learn to handle the music industry and media culture. With millions watching your every move and tearing apart your music at the seams, the last thing you want is to give paparazzi a piece of their own personality.
Chappell Roan has recently surged to the top of people’s playlists. On the fifth of April 2024, Roan would release a single that would later become her highest streaming track, surpassing over one billion streams worldwide—“Good Luck, Babe.” With all of this newfound fame, she has been invited to numerous well-respected and popular events with other top artists, such as Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish. Little did she know, every aspect of her life and career would be ripped into shreds by the media, and she would become our latest “controversial artist” to support.
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, a Missouri-born supernova, began songwriting as soon as she entered her teenage years. She released her debut EP “School Nights” in 2017, where she was quickly signed onto Atlantic Records. She further created her professional stage name, Chappell Roan, which honors her late grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell, and his favorite song, “The Strawberry Roan” by Curley Fletcher. But after releasing her hit queer anthem “Pink Pony Club”, a power-pop song telling the story of a young girl moving from Tennessee to Southern California to become a go-go dancer at a queer bar, she was dropped by the label group after they supposedly didn’t want to put any resources, support, or funding behind the song. This disheartened Roan, leading to her taking an almost two-year break from the music industry and directing her focus towards her ongoing struggles with mental health.
Refreshed after her break, she bounced back and independently released multiple songs throughout 2022, including “Casual” and “My Kink is Karma.” Many drew their attention to Roan’s TikTok account, where she was quickly gaining attraction for her music, her style, and her overall aesthetic. Not soon after signing with Island Records, she began to tour with Olivia Rodrigo as an opening act on Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour. Fans of Rodrigo soon started to learn the lyrics and Roan’s signature “HOT TO GO!” dance and would sing along during Roan’s supporting act. But suddenly, all eyes were on Roan after she released her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” as well as booking and selling out a headlining tour in late 2023. Fans were raving as the now 27-year-old shot to a new level of fame over the summer of 2024, with hits like “HOT TO GO!” and “Femininomenon” topping the charts, as well as her various Coachella performances—and with that comes an even larger fanbase. But with this newfound level of fame comes attached with the predatory behavior, from strangers and paparazzi lurking in every shadow.
Paparazzi and professional photographers can be found at almost every event featuring actors, celebrities, artists, athletes, or anyone in Hollywood’s spotlight. But there’s no doubt that their intrusiveness has always been a major issue amongst these figures, and it’s only seemingly getting more extreme. In this time where media is right at our fingertips, it’s easy to forget about the right to privacy. Many artists have grown to accept this unsafe environment that paparazzi create, and some have even just accepted it as part of their career. But Chappell Roan takes no shame in confronting these paparazzi members, and even yelling back at them on carpets at award shows—regardless of whether she receives praise or hate for it.
In September of 2024, Roan attended the MTV VMAs award show, where she won an award for Best New Artist as well as performed “Good Luck, Babe” as she was surrounded by flames and knights in shining armor. But prior to the show on the red carpet, with a sword in her hand in a medieval-centric outfit, Roan got into a heated dispute with a paparazzi member who began to harass her by cursing at her and telling her to “shut up”. Roan wasted no time in clapping back at the photographer and telling them to do the exact same. While many online and fellow artists have praised her for sticking up for herself, others have referred to it as “unprofessional to act this way at an event” and were shocked by Roan’s audacity.
Not soon after this altercation, Roan attended the premiere of Netflix’s “Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour” concert film in October. As the pair have worked together for many years, with Roan vocalizing on many tracks as a backing vocalist and an opener on Rodrigo’s tours, photographers were quick to take pictures of the two. While on the carpet, as Roan was posing in a sheer, red, floral dress, she recognized a photographer that had disrespected her at the Grammy Awards earlier that year. As she pointed and walked over to them, she seemingly called them out on their rudeness and demanded an apology for their previous behavior towards her. It’s unsure whether that photographer gave Roan an apology or not, but it’s very clear that Roan takes no shame in setting her boundaries.
Fans have long since pushed pop stars to take courageous stands on politics or to share their opinions on certain topics that are often quite debated. These impossible, political expectations are ever changing—enter Chappell Roan. At this year’s Grammy Awards held on February 2, Roan received the award for one of the top categories, Best New Artist. With a standing ovation behind her, Roan would not go on stage and show the world meaningless gratitude. As she delved into her speech, she was quick to call out record labels and “the most powerful people in music” and demand they provide artists healthcare and pay them livable wages. She further provided powerful statements saying that artists should be treated as valuable employees, asking, “We got you, but do you got us?” This is seemingly a reflection of the experience that Roan faced when she was dropped by her label in 2020 and her struggles during this time. Despite the roars of applause, many who didn’t agree with her speech referred to her as “wildly misinformed.”
Throughout her career, Roan has repeatedly advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and has donated over one hundred thousand dollars, raised through the purchase of her merchandise, to charities and organizations that assist this community. From embracing drag culture at her shows to forming her own small rebellion, this self-proclaimed “unapologetically queer woman” embraces and celebrates her identity through every aspect of her life and career. During her 2024 performance at Gov Ball, a music festival held in New York City, she made eye contact with the camera and spoke on how the White House graciously invited her to perform for them for their annual Pride Celebration event. She revealed that she declined the invitation, and further explained it was due to her opposition to many stances taken by Joe Biden’s administration. If she were to attend, her plan was to read poetry written by female Palestinian authors in protest, but she ultimately refused to go altogether. “We want liberty, freedom, and justice for all,” Roan said. “When you do that, that’s when I’ll come. I won’t be a monkey for pride.”
Roan’s stage presence has the ability to take over a room or crowd, and it’s clear how important it is to her to use her power to provide voices for the voiceless. These moments have really sparked people’s interest in whether she will configure herself to fit into the box that society has deemed for her, or if she will continue to stand out and push the boundaries people have set for her. She will also push the question of “when will they stop”, implying that the paparazzi have almost no limits as to how far they will go for the perfect shot. Although we can retaliate and break the parasitic relationship that paparazzi have with celebrities, Roan is one of our first examples of an artist not afraid to stand their ground on how toxic and abusive this behavior can be—how she will push back against the invasive photographers of this industry, and use her platforms to speak the truth.
“The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” released on September 22, 2023, is the first full-length album from Chappell Roan. The album is an exciting fusion of Dance/Alternative Pop and is one of the greatest albums pop music has ever seen. Truthfully, this is nothing less than amazing for its entire run-through. This debut album is a modern-day masterpiece, and a breath of fresh air for pop music. Roan, alongside contemporaries like Charli XCX & Sabrina Carpenter, is leading a pop renaissance the world hasn’t seen since artists like Madonna and Whitney Houston dominated the pop music scene.
With songs that were produced and recorded over a span of five years, Roan masterfully creates a beautiful work of art, with over half of the album strategically being released as singles. We see Roan mature as an artist through the span of just one album, which makes for an incredible listening experience. In comparison to her previous work, Roan is seemingly revising her music career and overall aesthetic. Standout tracks like “Red Wine Supernova”, “After Midnight”, “HOT TO GO!”, and “Pink Pony Club” all express and display Roan’s creativity and abilities as a songwriter, singer, and truly whatever she wants to be. There was not a single second spent listening to this album that I felt was wasted.
Songs like “Femininomenon”, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”, and “Guilty Pleasure” are dance jams fueled and filled by electricity, and they showcase Roan’s ability to effortlessly create undeniable hits. She also shows a talent for slower, softer, and very, very personal tunes, with songs like “Coffee”, “Casual”, and “Kaleidoscope” demonstrating this perfectly. The album goes in all kinds of directions, with one thing perfectly clear—Chappell is human. She isn’t some superhuman celebrity demi-god; she is a person. Throughout this album, she discovers herself. She loves, she hates, she loses, she triumphs, she cries, she celebrates—In a sense, she rises and falls.
At times, this album flawlessly manages to make any listener quite emotional. There’s something about the album’s introspective nature, and witch’s brew of emotions ranging from ecstatic joy to confused despair, that makes you relate to whatever the topic of discussion is. This album’s title isn’t exactly accurate, this isn’t a rise and fall—This is a rise, rise, rise, and rise again. This album deserves to be coated in gold and preserved in a museum somewhere. It’s camp, it’s colorful, and it’s fan-freaking-tastic!
Song ratings:
- Femininomenon (5/5)
- Red Wine Supernova (5/5)
- After Midnight (5/5)
- Coffee (5/5)
- Casual (5/5)
- Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl (4/5)
- Hot To Go! (5/5)
- My Kink Is Karma (5/5)
- Picture You (4.5/5)
- Kaleidoscope (5/5)
- Pink Pony Club (5/5)
- Naked In Manhattan (5/5)
- California (4/5)
- Guilty Pleasure (4/5)
Noah’s Overall Rating: 4.75/5
Chappell Roan, who was seemingly once an outsider in her Missouri hometown, has become quite the establishment in the music industry. But it’s impossible not to mention the LGBTQ+ fans who have latched on to her passionately, for more than just her infectious hits. For someone with such skyrocketing success, Roan has refused to dilute any part of who she is, despite any ounce of negativity She flawlessly embraces and highlights her own sexuality, while still giving credit to her rural roots and upbringing. Having an artist like her topping the charts, headlining festivals, and taking over the world is vital to queer representation and visibility, and it further proves and embodies that queer people exist outside of large cities and along American coasts.
Listening to her music can leave the listener feeling quite aspirational, as it proposes an exciting and refreshing outlook on the future for queer youth. Her deep commitment to uplifting LGBTQ+ voices from all parts of today’s society can be seen in her VMA’s acceptance speech for her crowning of Best New Artist. After dedicating the award to the various drag queens and queer artists that continue to inspire her, she then dedicated it to the trans and queer people listening, who, like her, grew up in a place that wasn’t accepting of her for who she is and who she loves.
“And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you. I understand you, because I’m one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be.”
In this way, Chappell Roan’s success is about more than just being one of our latest breakout pop stars, or “controversial’ artists to support. It’s a matter of survival. Stories about queer people are often viewed as a struggle and heartache to express, as so much of the world doesn’t always leave room for the community to fully be themselves and live loudly. But when it comes to Roan’s music, she is not only explicitly herself, but she has and will continue to create celebratory music to further fuel acceptance in today’s society. With teasing “The Subway” at multiple shows and releasing “The Giver” on March 13— four months after its debut SNL performance—Roan’s sophomore album seems to be right around the corner. With many fans hoping for more infectious queer anthems, and others hoping for a possible rock and roll or country path, we can only grow more eager to see how Roan approaches her music further down the line in her career. But regardless of what route she takes, our champion of queer pop music is going to keep on dancing as our favorite pink pony girl, and that you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.
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