The first time I heard of Chappell Roan was a random post on my Instagram explore page. The cover photo to her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess appeared on my screen and I was intrigued. I clicked on the Instagram page and scrolled through the colorful photos from this artist unknown to me. Immediately, I fell in awe of her aesthetic and colorful costumes. Putting my fifteen minutes of Instagram-stalking away, I rediscovered her music months later with a song (which unbeknownst to me, even now would never leave my head) titled “Good Luck, Babe!”
Now, many of her songs, specifically “HOT TO GO!”, “Good Luck, Babe!” and “Red Wine Supernova” have achieved over 100 million streams on Spotify. Her music has even been featured in quick 30-second TikTok videos for Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, specifically “Femininomenon”. She’s played for sold-out festivals and even broke Lollapalooza’s attendance record this past August, but how did Chappell Roan go from underground artist to pop sensation over a handful of months?
Deemed an “overnight success”, many people comment on Chappell Roan’s vocal ability and stage presence, with most questioning her sudden rise to fame. Chappell Roan was born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in a small town in rural Missouri. Her home state, which she has written plenty of nods to in her music, serves as a main point of her identity. Roan directs the difficulty of growing up as a queer person in a small, rural town, and combines her feelings and musical talent into songwriting and performance.
Through countless interviews, Roan has expressed how she wants to create music she felt she needed as a queer person from the rural Midwest. She was signed to Atlantic Records when she was 17 but was dropped some time later after her first EP did not achieve many sales. Presently, she is signed with Island Records, where she released her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and went on tour as an opener for Olivia Rodrigo.
Roan’s sudden success and fame has brought her plenty of new fans, and with that, an abundance of unwelcome attention. Roan took to Instagram on Aug. 23, 2024, asking for more privacy and respect as a human being. In this emotional post she says, “I feel more love than I ever have in my life. I feel the most unsafe I have ever felt in my life.”
Her so-called “overnight” success has been a ten-year-long “night”, and Chappell Roan’s success displays a strong message of continuing with your passion, even if you’re knocked down over again.
