Chappell Roan is Shaking Up Pop Music
Coachella 2024
If you are anything like me, it seems like over the last few months you’ve been hearing non stop about an up and coming artist named Chappell Roan. Initially I had heard buzz about Chappell Roan following her NPR Tiny Desk performance and soon after, it seemed like I kept seeing her name everywhere to the point that I just HAD to check out her discography to see what all the hype was about. Once I decided to do my deep dive I quickly learned that all of this sudden hype was so well deserved. Not only is her hype deserved, I truly feel like her music isn’t just some trend, but is really shaking up the pop music world. Let’s get into it!
Although it seems like Chappell Roan just popped out of nowhere, this sudden recognition is actually a long time coming for her as an artist. After spending her younger years learning piano, Chappell Roan started releasing her own original music on YouTube under her birth name, Kayleigh Rose, and soon lead to her signing with Atlantic Records. She soon took on her stage name, Chappell Roan, which pays homage to her grandfather by combining last name, Chappell, with his favorite song, “The Strawberry Roan”. By 2017, she released her first single and EP that lead her to tour with Vance Joy later that year. Shortly after, she ended up officially moving from her hometown in Missouri to Los Angeles, where she claims she truly started to blossom as a queer woman and artist.
From NPR Tiny Desk
After continuing to release singles throughout 2020, she unfortunately got dropped from Atlantic Records, despite her singles being pretty well received. Between 2020 and 2022 Chappell was really putting in the work as an independent artist and even moved back home to Missouri to focus on her music. In 2023, she began releasing singles to promote her first full length album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, that was released in September of 2023. Following this album release, she embarked on her own tour and even opened up for Oliva Rodrigo’s Guts Tour, which exposed her music to an even larger audience, leading to 2024 being the year everyone can’t stop talking about Chappell Roan.
However, the thing about Chappell Roan is that she is an artist that is unlike any other in the scene right now and it is sooooo refreshing! For starters, her music has different layers of depth despite their fun poppy sounds. Occasionally I find myself a bit turned off by pop music simply because although the music is typically catchy, many of the popular songs lack a lot of depth. In addition to much of modern pop music being just really catchy, I also feel like many songs are made in the hopes that a snippet will go viral on TikTok and then that’s really where the creativity stops. Chappell Roan’s music is absolutely catchy and I find myself having her songs stuck in my head, but I also really feel like she shares her real emotions and experiences through her music that makes her even more endearing. Her first debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is such a lovely example because throughout this album she explores so many different themes and experiences such as living as a queer woman, the complexities of relationships, coming of age, and the bittersweet aspects of leaving your small town behind to pursue your dreams.
Aside from the substance of her music, another thing that I feel sets her apart from other pop artists on the scene is her emphasis on the visual aspect of her performances. Something I absolutely adore about her is how she has acquired her on-stage persona and look from drag artists, treating her on-stage persona as separate from herself similar to drag. Not only has she given credit to drag artists for inspiring her, she also incorporates local drag artists into her shows in each city she performs. She also has gotten a reputation for wearing fun and unique outfits and incredible 80s glam-like makeup during performances, again paying homage to drag. I also find it to also be a sort of nod to the glam rock artists before her, such as David Bowie with Ziggy Stardust. But these fun performance aspects don’t stop with her, she takes it a step further and includes the audience in this by announcing different themes for each show so attendees can join in on the dress up. From what I have seen on social media, the fans absolutely show out, making Chappell shows like one big dress up party.
Despite my previous criticisms of pop music, I do think there are a lot of great pop artists on the scene right now, however, Chappell Roan still seems to stand out from the crowd. With her Midwest charm, glam rock sort of look, range of experiences her music provides, emphasis on queer culture, and just continuing to do her own thing making everything she produces feel so authentic, she really is like no other in pop music right now. I am so excited to see Chappell Roan receive continued success and am really looking forward to how she evolves as an artist, After all, she’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist, and she’s your dream girl’s dream girl.
