Chappell Roan Talks About Her Breakthrough Year

To say that Chappell Roan is having a breakthrough year is an understatement. The 26-year-old pop star, who brings the second leg of her Midwest Princess Tour to Jacobs Pavilion on Tuesday, May 28, is fresh off her gig opening for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS arena tour. The singer-songwriter also played Coachella, delivered an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and made her TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – all in the first few months of 2024.

Roan has amassed over 14 million (and counting) monthly Spotify listeners by being herself. Her drag makeup, perky dance-pop anthems and honest lyrics narrating gay panic have made Roan an icon in the LGBTQ+ community.

But lately, she is gaining just as much traction in the mainstream.

Roan’s latest can’t-get-out-of-your-head catchy single, “Good Luck, Babe,” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 last month. It comes on the heels of the track “Casual” that's trending on TikTok despite the Universal Music Group dispute leading to the official audio for Roan’s music, and a large percentage of other commercial artists’ music, being removed from the platform.

“A lot of my songs have been so difficult to get to the finish line, but it’s for good reason. It’s like they pushed their way into this world,” says Roan in a recent phone interview.
“[‘Casual’] was locked in an email for a year and a half, cause I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do,’” says Roan. “We rewrote the whole thing twice; it was so frustrating. At first, I was like, ‘I want it to be really upbeat and big,’ like a power anthem; it just was not meant to be that way.”

“Casual” was Roan’s favorite song to perform live on the GUTS World Tour.

Every night, unprompted by Roan, the fans would hold up their phone flashlights while she performed the kiss-off. The Missouri native compared the views to a total lunar eclipse she had seen back home.

“Teenage girls rule the fucking world,” says Roan of Rodrigo’s cult following. “They are the best, most enthusiastic fans, and the most loyal.”

Seeing the even younger kids in the crowd have the time of their lives stirred a deep nostalgia in Roan.

“I just remember crying when Hannah Montana came out onstage and just being like, ‘There’s no one more important in the world, but maybe Jesus. But maybe not,” says Roan. “For some of these girls, Olivia is their Hannah Montana.”

“Pink Pony Club,” unlike “Casual,” was written in its entirety in just a day or two, according to Roan.

“That one was easy; she did not have to fight,” she says.

The empowering single was inspired by Roan’s first ever trip to a gay bar, where she had an awakening.

“It was exactly what I think church was supposed to feel like – this freedom, and this all-encompassing love and acceptance. If the Holy Spirit is real, to me, then she’s in a fucking gay bar, because that’s what I felt,” says Roan. “What’s so crazy is, I went with my boyfriend at the time. I felt so removed from him. I remember just kind of floating away from him, and being like, ‘There’s nothing more that I want than to be with this community.’”

The song was written about a week after this experience.

“It was very, very spiritual, very emotional, and that’s why I think it came so easy.”
Roan’s 2023 debut album is equal parts upbeat and intimate.

One of the most heart-wrenching songs, “California,” is a ballad originally released in 2020, that she decided to include as a thematic centerpiece.

“It was such a big element of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, because it’s where I talk about how I miss Missouri so much,” says Roan. “I just think it was so important to be like, ‘You know what? I don’t actually even like Hollywood, so, I want my dad to come pick me up. I’m really sad, and I have no money.”

The song was, of course, written before Roan’s career had taken off. Now, she could not feel more vindicated.

Roan sold out the 2,000-capacity Agora so rapidly that her Cleveland date was upgraded to the 5,000-capacity Jacobs Pavilion. It's on the same day as wildly popular singer-songwriter Noah Kahan’s sold-out Blossom show, nonetheless.

“I feel complete, satisfied, and content,” says Roan. “I’m just very proud of everyone, cause it’s not just me [making the artist project of Chappell Roan happen]. Right now, it’s a team of like 70 people across the board, holding it up, altogether.”

Although her wildest dreams have already come true, by being able to release and promote an album and go on headline tours in the first place, Roan still has career goals. She’s only human, after all.

The singer-songwriter strives to tour globally and put out many more albums. She’s currently working on her sophomore LP.

“I have it all. I’m set is how I feel,” says Roan. “The only thing that I really want more in my creative career is that  I don’t think I’ve written my best song yet. So, I think, that’s where the hunger comes from. I want to write my best song.”

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