“I’m your favorite artist’s, favorite artist, I’m your dream girl’s, dream girl. And I’m gonna serve exactly what you are: c*nt” said queer sensation Chappell Roan at her most recent performance at Coachella. Videos of her sporting a butterfly outfit, with drag style makeup, have gone viral on TikTok, with fans exclaiming she is the queer pop sensation we need.
Roan’s fame has skyrocketed over the past year. Following her most recent tour for her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, she supported Olivia Rodrigo on her most recent “GUTS” tour. On the first weekend of Coachella, she performed an amazing set featuring costume changes, dances, and a huge audience engagement. Roan has clearly established herself as a queer artist who is here to stay in mainstream pop.
However, how has Roan, a queer drag queen, been able to work her way to the levels of fame she has now? With her videos circulating all over Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, she is continuing to grow her platform and continue to establish her reputation. With this quick boom in popularity, fans may wonder, where did Roan even come from?
Chappell Roan was born in Missouri as Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, she took on her stage name much later in her career, and it serves as a sort of drag persona for her. Her life as a queer person in Missouri has framed her career, as most of her songs are inspired by her experiences with coming out especially into her queerness.
After making YouTube videos as a teenager, she eventually gained popularity with her original song “Die Young”. Afterwards, her music career skyrocketed, leading her to signing with Atlantic Records, moving to Los Angeles, and fully leaning into her queerness.
Now, Roan has over 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with one studio album out, and a brand new single called “Good Luck, Babe!”.
Much of the reason why Roan has been able to gain such success is because her music clearly speaks to the LGBTQIA+ community, but also deals with general, yet still deeply relatable themes of femininity, dating, and coming of age that is mixed with bits of Roans own personality.
Her most recent album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess clearly displays that as Roan fully channels her clear love for music. Just the first song of her album “Femininomenon” Roan brings clear humor as she screams “play the song with the fucking beat” to the sound of car engines revving. Her song is fun and original, and serves as a great opening to what this newest era of hers is about: owning her sexuality as a queer woman. In this song, she creates her own definition of femininity making it a femininomenon.
Another standout song on the album is “Pink Pony Club”, where Roan sings about her short lived dream of being a gogo dancer. This song takes inspiration from a club she went to when she first came to L.A. and how she felt that everyone somehow belonged there, regardless of sexuality and identity. Typically, at the end of her performance sets, she sings this song to the audience, allowing them to claim her presence as a safe space (this is considering the fact that a large majority of her fans are queer).
Many of her other songs, on and off the album, delve further into her experiences with women such as “Good Luck, Babe!”, “Casual”, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”, and the famous “Red Wine Supernova”.
As Chappell Roans fan base grows, it is clear that she has established herself as a queer pop artist. Going forward, fans will be on the edge of their seats wondering: what will Roan do next?
I am a student at University of Houston currently studying Strategic Communications. In my free time, I write for different publications as I am extremely passionate about music. I collect vinyls, go to concerts, and play guitar. Some of my favorite artists include Paramore, Kendrick Lamar, and Lorde. On the weekends I make pottery, sew, and spend time with my dog.
