Chappell Roan is a singer who rose to fame

Chappell Roan is experiencing an incredible year. She’s breaking records with her tours across the nation, her songs are trending on TikTok, and her Billboard charts have been rising all summer long.

However, in 2024, Roan wasn’t thrown from the pop music machine as a fully realized celebrity. Over the course of ten years, the pandemic and problems with her label have impeded her steady rise to stardom. Coincidentally, she has had extraordinarily successful last six months of her career.

Explore Roan’s journey from Missouri teen musician to one of pop’s most exciting new faces in years, ahead of his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, which was once a star-making showcase for icons like Madonna, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé.

2014–2015: Chappell Roan’s ascent.

Willard, Missouri is the hometown of Chappell Roan. Her upbringing in the Midwest has shaped her completely as an artist, even though she never really felt like she belonged there.

In 2023, she states in a mini-documentary that will be released before her debut album, “I’ve always wanted to tie my project back here, for some reason.”. “Regardless of my feelings toward it, I have to show respect to this place that raised me.”. It will simply always be a part of who I am. “.

When she was a teenager, she began taking her music more seriously after beginning to perform at local events and school talent shows.

November 2014 marks the release of Roan’s debut self-titled EP, which she released under her real name, Kayleigh Rose. She is sixteen years old.

In a 2015 installment of the Missouri-based music podcast “The Vault,” two fans offer their opinions of her work. Roan’s mother was selling some of her CDs at the local record store when they went to buy the album. The hosts claim that all of the album’s copies sold out in a matter of seconds.

According to one of the hosts, “They sold out so quick—that should tell you how awesome this girl is.”.

Although her debut EP only consists of four tracks, the hosts compliment her voice for having a distinct raspiness and almost smoky quality.

November 5, 2014: Troye Sivan, an Australian pop artist, shouts out “Die Young,” one of Roan’s original songs. “.

“I’ve spent the last two months obsessing over this 16-year-old girl,” tweets Sivan. “Guys, you HAVE to listen to this. Send some love. “.

Sivan began on YouTube before landing a record deal, so his support is particularly noteworthy.

May 2015: Shortly after turning 17, Roan signs a record deal with Atlantic Records. Her late grandfather’s name was Chappell, so at this point she takes on the stage name Chappell Roan.

As she states in a 2017 short documentary, “People would always ask if I had a plan B.”. “And he didn’t inquire. I could pull it off, he just knew. “.

Roan’s initial efforts and obstacles, 2017–2020.

September 22, 2017: At the age of 19, Chappell Roan releases her debut EP under her stage name, “School Nights.”. Her range varies from a soulful alto to a fluttery falsetto, and the songs are tinged with darkness and teenage angst. The free-spirited, camp-inspired pop she will eventually embrace sounds very different from this.

September 30, 2017: Roan embarks on her first national tour, opening for Vance Joy.

January 31, 2018: Roan will accompany English singer-songwriter Declan McKenna on his short-term tour. She’s still singing “School Nights” songs at this point, which are eerie and spiky. “.

Roan withdraws from the public eye for the majority of 2019 in order to concentrate on her new music and mental health.

Roan’s single “Pink Pony Club,” an aching ode to queer joy and self-choice, is released on April 3, 2020. Her initial visit to the Abbey, a well-known gay bar in Los Angeles, served as inspiration.

In an interview years later, she tells Tom Power that her label “didn’t even want to put it out” because, at its peak, it should be listened to while dancing and singing along at full volume in a packed room. The song was released at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the song has attracted a loyal following.

Records Atlantic drops Roan in August 2020. She is not yet a very successful performer, and “Pink Pony Club” is struggling to find takers without a tour to back it during the height of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Artists earn their living through touring,” she states subsequently in an interview with “Q with Tom Power.”. In 2020, I wasn’t on tour. “.

Following the completion of her deal, Roan works at a drive-thru in her hometown before returning to Missouri to live with her parents. When producer Dan Nigro—who she collaborated with on “Pink Pony Club”—makes it big with Olivia Rodrigo and her debut record, she keeps experimenting with her sound on her own.

As time passed, Roan tells Rolling Stone in 2022, “I realized that experience on the label, as difficult as it was for five years, was the biggest blessing ever.”. I can do it on my own, too, thanks to my independence. “.

the 2021–2023 production of “Midwestern Princess.”.

Roan’s creative outlet shifts to TikTok in 2021. She posts funny videos of her guinea pig wearing a fedora, promotes her original songs, and shares covers. Even lyrics from her upcoming song, “Naked in Manhattan,” are hinted at in brief by her. “.

The songs “Naked in Manhattan,” “Casual,” and “Femininomenon,” which will all be on Roan’s upcoming debut album, will be released when she signs a publishing deal with Sony in March 2022. She opens for Olivia Rodrigo in May and Fletcher in October of each year’s tour. At this point, she also signs with Nigro’s label, Amusement Records, which is a subordinate label of Island Records. ).

In the interim, though, she finally headlines her first shows in New York and Los Angeles.

January 2023: Roan leaves on her first headline tour, “Naked in North America,” leaving in February. Every day is fully booked.

There is a drag queen born on June 12, 2023. Preparing for her London performance, Roan applies her signature glitter makeup in the company of drag performer Crayola, who serves as her opening act.

Pop star Crayola reportedly said to Roan, “Honey, you are a drag queen.”.

According to Roan, the incident turned on a switch in her. “I truly consider that to be my identity,” she says to Power. “Recognizing that Chappell Roan is my drag project has been incredibly liberating. ‘”.

Exactly six years after releasing her debut EP under the name Chappell Roan, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess” makes its premiere on September 22, 2023. It feels like the purest artistic declaration of Roan’s career and is simultaneously heartwarming, ecstatic, and overtly queer. Rolling Stone is among the many year-end best-of lists that feature the well-reviewed album. Her debut full-length album is described as a “wildly ribald, extremely hooky thrill ride through sexual and personal awakenings” by the outlet. “.

In 2024, she says to Jimmy Fallon, “I just wanted to make something that I could party to and that other people could party to.”. Something I could perform without ever feeling depressed or bored. “.

2024, the year Roan became a star.

March 21, 2024: Roan makes her mark on NPR’s Tiny Desk, sporting lipstick on her teeth and cigarettes lodged in her wig, akin to a clown-faced prom queen. In a performance that NPR claims “forever alter(ed) the Tiny Desk,” Roan belts and breaks hearts with cuts from “Midwestern Princess” throughout her five-song set. “.

April 5, 2024: Roan’s new era starts with the ’80s-inspired hit song “Good Luck, Babe!” in which she channels Kate Bush across a tragic bridge. Her vocal range is equally impressive; during the chorus, she sings in a falsetto, creating a fitting contrast to the angelic highs and devilish lows of loving an uncommittable woman.

On April 12, 2024, Roan answers Coachella’s call and provides. Wearing her trademark white clown face and latex, she shows up for her first set. She gives an emotional bridge directly to the camera, which is streaming the entire thing, and writhes when it’s time for “Good Luck, Babe!”. Despite being removed due to copyright concerns, the live-streamed performance gains widespread popularity and makes a powerful impact.

Early summer 2024: “HOT TO GO!” becomes unavoidable at some point. People rapidly pick up the song’s corresponding dance as Roan plays to increasingly sizable crowds across the nation.

June 10, 2024: Green-painted and emerging from a cracked red apple with a tiny torch, Roan plays Lady Liberty at the Governors Ball festival in New York. She has gained recognition for her increasingly inventive on-stage appearances, which have included everything from rhinestone cowgirl ensembles to gowns and towering wigs reminiscent of Marie Antoinette.

June 20, 2024: During an endearingly scathing interview with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” Roan performs the song “Good Luck, Babe!”. She also name-checks Sasha Colby, the winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” from whom she has drawn inspiration, and jokes, wide-eyed, “Did you not know who I was before?” after Fallon sets up a bit about Googling Roan’s name.

August1,2024: When Chappell performs at the Chicago festival, dressed in a pink latex outfit reminiscent of a lucha libre, Lollapalooza turns into her private celebration. Later, organizers tell CNN that with up to 110,000 spectators, it’s possibly the biggest set the festival has ever had.

August 19, 2024: “Midwestern Princess” hits No. 1 on the Billboard charts following months of consistent chart ascent. ranked number two among the 200 albums. It had been on the chart for 23 weeks as of the first week of September. With more than 45 million monthly listeners, she is the 60th most-streamed artist worldwide on Spotify.

Moreover, on August 19, Roan’s quick ascent to fame ultimately catches up with him. She shares two TikTok videos in which she describes “scary” fan interactions she’s had, such as the demands for pictures and hugs, the stalking of her in public, and the discovery of her family’s residence.

“It doesn’t bother me that people who are famous or somewhat famous are subjected to abuse, harassment, stalking, or any other form of harassment,” she declares in a video. “Please allow me to refuse creepy behavior.”.

Although a lot of people agree with her message, she sometimes faces criticism from people who believe they shouldered some of the blame for her rise to prominence by buying her albums or going to her performances.

She intensifies her criticism in a follow-up social media post. She stresses that even though she is passionate about her work as a musician and her fans, she will “not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path.”. “.