On Sept. 22, 2023, Chappell Roan released her first full-length album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” and from that moment on, Roan has been propelled into success. Though many may consider her an overnight success, she has been working on her musical career for ages, releasing her first song, “Die Young,” in Oct. 2014. Her persona, Chappell Roan, has gained her many fans as she set herself apart from the many other pop stars of the past few years. Embracing campy costumes, extravagant wigs, and provocative lyrics have all led her to success.
The Rise of The Midwest Princess
Around the end of her high school years, Roan started posting music to YouTube under her name Kayleigh Rose. These videos eventually got her picked up and signed by Atlantic Records at the young age of 17. Soon she would put out the now famous song “Pink Pony Club,” released at the start of the pandemic on Apr. 3, 2020. Because the song’s target demographic was clubs, it didn’t sell well because all of them were closed at the time. Since the song wasn’t the success they had hoped, the record label dropped Roan.
Three years later she would release “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” through Amusement Records with her co-writer and co-producer Dan Nigro, who also partnered with the popstar Olivia Rodrigo. In fact, she has said that her vocals can be heard faintly in some of Rodrigo’s songs. In the process of promoting her debut album, she released 10 singles and made her late-night show debut in Feb. 2024.
Chappell Roan started her tour Feb. of 2023 and during this she released her most streamed track “Good Luck, Babe!” This new release brought her many new fans and saw a rapid increase in attendance at her concerts. Roan was given a spot in the Coachella 2024 lineup — a big moment in many artists’ careers since the music festival is one of the biggest in the country.
Since then Roan has been invited to many late-night shows including “Saturday Night Live,” and has recently been nominated for an impressive six Grammy nominations. Roan is often compared to the likes of Lady Gaga and is well-regarded among legends in the music industry such as Elton John. He said in an interview for Rolling Stone, “She is kind, innocent, and wonderful. She is not ‘Chappell Roan’ offstage – a bit like me.” It is safe to say that the world will be seeing more of Roan in the future.
The Controversy
It is impossible to speak of the pop star without recognizing the controversies she has faced throughout her career so far. First, from early on in her career, Roan has been embracing her queer identity and received a bit of backlash for that. But this did not stop her as she was strongly supported by the whole LGBTQIA+ community.
Second, during the summertime, Roan began feeling disturbed by fans stalking her, some even going as far as finding where her family worked. For her and her family’s sake, Roan posted and said in many interviews that she doesn’t feel safe with this kind of behavior.
In addition to this, she made a video in which she described some simple boundaries that she hopes her fans will respect. She explained that her personal life should be separated from the music she makes. Roan has made it immensely clear that she values her personal privacy. She has also said that she needs inappropriate behavior like stalking to stop, and it is completely understandable why she would want this knowing that some artists have lost their lives to crazy fans.
In September, Roan received serious hate for pulling out of the All Things Go music festival two days before she would go on stage. Roan made a post saying that she made this decision after she noticed her mental health was declining and needed to value that; she also apologized to her fans who bought tickets to the festival to see her. Many fans and others were upset with her for canceling last minute. Roan made the setlist before she gained mass popularity, and she wasn’t a headliner, but with her rise in popularity there was a lot of hate against her for withdrawing from the festival.
Some fans might not know that Roan is diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder, and at many performances, she has had a breakdown or spoken out about her mental health. At the festival, some of the artists acknowledged her backing out and were proud of her for taking the steps and courage to take time for herself and her health.
Finally, around a month before the election, Roan said in an interview that she would not be formally endorsing Kamala Harris. Many fans got mad at her for this comment, but she made a video in the hopes to clear the air of any misconceptions. Roan explained that she was asking that voters use critical thinking before making their votes. She also explained that she would still be voting for Harris but not endorsing her as Roan doesn’t agree with all of Harris’s points.
