If you listen to pop music or have been on the internet this summer, you’ve likely heard the name Chappell Roan. But who is this mysterious yet larger-than-life figure?
Roan was born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in Willard, Missouri. Her stage name, which she prefers, is derived from her grandfather and his favorite song. As an openly gay singer, she has expressed the difficulties she had growing up in a conservative Christian household, where she was taught being gay was a sin.
To her, Chappell Roan is her way of exploring the true facets of herself she was scared to express growing up.
She was signed to Atlantic Records at 17 and released her debut EP School Nights in 2017, which she describes as “really dark, angsty pop that was pretty boring.”
Chappell seemed to hit her stride after moving to Los Angeles in 2018, where she was able to separate from the ideologies of her childhood. After meeting her primary collaborator Dan Nigro, who also works with Olivia Rodrigo, she released her first song after School Nights in April of 2020, “Pink Pony Club.” The song describes her experience of breaking away from her roots in Missouri to experience the gay club scene in LA.
After the song failed to perform, she released “California,” which explored her insecurities since moving to the state which led her record label to drop her.
Feeling defeated, Chappell returned to Missouri to work at a drive-thru. After saving enough money to return to Los Angeles, she met back up with Dan Nigro, who she released music with as an independent artist.
Over the next couple of years, she would release several more singles, including “Naked InManhattan,” “Feminiominon” and “Casual,” developing the character of Chappell Roan, and finding what made her, her.
Then in 2022, she was officially announced as the opener for the tours of Fletcher and Olivia Rodrigo. The following year she was signed to Amusement Records, who released her debut LP The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and headlined her first tour.
Over time through social media, the public grew to love Roan. She is unafraid to be who she is: a drag queen who laughs in the face of people who say she can’t dress or do her makeup like that, and a person who sings unapologetically about queer love and sex in a world that is still so hateful towards the LGBTQ community.
Roan is an artist returning to upbeat, escapist pop, which many have desperately missed.
However, this meteoric rise to fame has come with its fair share of challenges. Roan has expressed on Tiktok that she has felt uncomfortable with the invasiveness of her fans.
She asks fans if they “would yell at, harass or ask for a photo with a ‘random woman on the street’ and get mad if the ‘random lady’ said no.”
“I don’t care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That does not make it ok.” Roan said.
There have been mixed responses by fans, some in support, and others believing this is an unfair ask. Either way, Roan is at the forefront of the public’s minds, and this attention may launch her career in a way we have never seen before.
