Chappell Roan is the biggest thing in pop right now. She’s not happy about it
When she put out her debut album last year, she was a cult act. Now, Chappell Roan publicly reckoning with a rapid rise to the top.
For months, the biggest new star in the pop cosmos has been fighting a battle against her own fame.
First, Chappell Roan complained onstage about the head-spinning speed with which she has become a phenomenon. Then she pushed back against the intrusive behaviour of some fans. Late last month, after saying she wouldn’t endorse a candidate in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, she confronted a wave of criticism, then tried to explain the nuances of her position, adding fuel to the fire.
Things only worsened last weekend after she, at the last minute, cancelled her appearances at the All Things Go music festival in New York City and Maryland, saying things had felt “overwhelming” – a decision that prompted more outcry online.
In a music industry that often rewards artifice over authenticity, the 26-year-old musician is publicly reckoning with the demands of her sudden fame. When she put out her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” back in September 2023, she was a cult act. Then she exploded faster than any rising pop act in recent memory, thanks to her live appearances and a hit song. In January, her weekly U.S. online streams were under three million; by June, they were nearly 70 million, according to Billboard. The red-haired pop singer has been the main attraction at music festivals like Lollapalooza, commanding massive crowds in pink cowboy hats as a non-headlining act. Just a few days ago, she topped Billboard’s Artist 100 chart, which tracks everything from U.S. sales and streaming to radio airplay, effectively crowning her the No. 1 artist in the cultural Zeitgeist. Roan declined to be interviewed.
“Chappell might be the next [Lady] Gaga,” says Kirk Sommer, senior partner and global co-head of music at talent agency William Morris Endeavor and agent for Adele, the Killers and Billie Eilish.
As her star has risen, Roan has run up against the sometimes toxic culture of modern celebrity. She has spoken about her struggles with mental health and feeling that her fans are infringing on her personal boundaries.
“Of course I’m sad that I didn’t see her at All Things Go, but it’s more important to me that she preserves her mental health,” says Kara Schmidt, a 36-year-old fan who travelled from Minneapolis to see Roan at the festival in New York, spending around $1,500 on tickets, food, lodging, travel and merchandise.
“No one could be ready for her mercurial rise to fame, and none of us are in her shoes to know the best course of action,” Schmidt says. “I trust her to know her.” Music executives see Roan as part of a new crop of savvier and more relatable female stars, including Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX, as well as queer acts like the indie trio boygenius and Billie Eilish.
Roan’s rapid rise is a striking contrast from just four years ago, when her career was in shambles.
Her label, Atlantic Records, had dumped her. A long-term relationship ended, and she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. Having struggled initially to make it as a dark, moody pop singer in Hollywood, she moved home to Missouri, entered therapy and worked at a drive-through.
But getting dropped turned out to be the best thing to happen to her. Returning to Los Angeles, Roan took up music again, following her own instincts to become the kind of pop act she wanted to be: playful, iconoclastic and forthrightly open about her self-discovery as a young lesbian woman.
Roan has a powerful, dynamic voice, which differentiates her concerts from those of other pop stars. Many of her songs, including her biggest hit, “Good Luck, Babe!,” have a nostalgic ‘80s feel, nodding to classic artists like Kate Bush and Cyndi Lauper; her lyrics combine comedy and pathos. Whereas contemporaries Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo enjoyed considerable prior fame as Disney stars, Roan had no past to leverage -- so, once she was off Atlantic’s roster, she had more freedom to craft her own musical persona.
“People love an underdog,” says Miranda Reinert, a host of the music podcast Endless Scroll. “It is all a good story.” When Roan moved back to Los Angeles, she reconnected with Daniel Nigro, a writer-producer who was pivotal in launching Olivia Rodrigo and first started working with Roan in 2018. Writing together, Roan and Nigro put out singles without a major label. After meeting Rodrigo through Nigro, Roan opened for her in 2022. For her 2023 debut album, Roan worked with Nigro’s imprint Amusement Records and Island Records, part of the Universal Music Group family of labels. This year, Roan again opened for Rodrigo, which boosted her visibility. Then the queer anthem “Good Luck, Babe!” – a new single written with pop songwriter Justin Tranter about a partner not ready to acknowledge their own feelings – catapulted Roan into the mainstream. Nigro declined to be interviewed.
Chloe Klaess, a 30-year-old librarian in Brooklyn, first heard Roan last year when her wife showed her the song “Red Wine Supernova.” She says it’s special that one of pop’s biggest stars openly represents the queer community.
During her performance at last month’s MTV Video Music Awards, Roan donned a suit of armour and wielded a crossbow and sword, using imagery that Klaess says lesbian fans read as “queerness without the straight gaze.” “As a queer woman myself, even now, in 2024, it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, is this artist queer? Are they not? Are they ‘maybe’?,” Klaess says. “Chappell Roan is just like, ‘No, I’m gay. I’m a lesbian.’ She is who she is, and I really appreciate that.” Instead of abiding by the typical media playbook, Roan has repeatedly insisted on being vocal about her feelings, especially about the possessiveness of some of her fans or how she doesn’t like either of the two main political parties.
While Roan’s political stance is a fairly common view, it gave people online, especially haters, an opening to attack by saying, for example, that she might be a closet supporter of Republican presidential contender Donald Trump. Instead of standing down, Roan doubled-down online, feeding the controversy. (Roan said she would vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.) Yet it’s this same willingness to take the harder road that helps explain why so many artists in popular music have lent their support to Roan this year. An unusual number of musicians and celebrities from Kacey Musgraves and Kelly Clarkson to Vampire Weekend have covered her songs recently, which executives see as a combination of offering their support and, in some cases, also bringing some valuable attention to themselves. Roan, after all, represents a changing of the guard in pop tastes – a turn away from the choreographed perfection of Katy Perry or even Dua Lipa, toward something messier.
“It’s the rise of authenticity in pop right now,” says Jonathan Daniel, co-founder of artist-management firm Crush Music, which handles acts including Lorde and Courtney Love.
Many fans have supported Roan’s attempts to set boundaries in a culture that can expect too much from young talent. But she can’t rest yet: She’s playing this year’s Austin City Limits festival, and then next month she’s the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. After that, she enters the studio with Nigro to work on her follow-up to 2023’s “Midwest Princess.” If anything, Roan’s recent publicity troubles may end up serving as a helpful speed bump, one that could slow down a spectacular ascent that was moving at a dangerous clip.
“Not everyone can handle Taylor Swift-level stardom – nor should they,” Klaess says. “I hope she doesn’t get burned out.”
The Wall Street Journal