Gina Ferazzi

Chappell Roan is on the road to become one of the biggest queer pop stars ever!

In the past couple of months, the world has seen a new breakout pop star! Her name is Chappell Roan and in her words, she’s “Your favorite artist’s favorite artist.” Chappell Roan was born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in the small little town of Willard, Missouri.
The area she grew up in was very passionate about religion and she would attend church about three times a week. Roan once said in an interview “I grew up thinking being gay was a sin.” Ever since she moved from her small town to the big city of Los Angeles she has truly found herself as a queer pop icon who is confident about her aesthetic and sexuality.
The insane love for her music started when she was the first opener on Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” tour. She performed some of her most popular songs like “Red Wine Supernova” and “Casual” which recently went viral on TikTok with her newfound fame. Roan’s song “HOT TO GO!” also went viral due to its fun and memorable dance. You just spell out the phrase, hot to go with your arms!
Roan is known for her synth-pop beats inspired by 80’s-2000’s pop radio hits. Sophomore Grey Hall whose favorite song is “Good Luck, Babe!” said, “Her songs remind me of 80’s music which I also enjoy. Her music is so versatile and beautiful. Many of her songs revolve around her lesbian identity and that’s admirable. She’s so accomplished despite being a newer artist.”
Roan is also a major icon for the LGBTQ+ community due to her openness to her sexuality and her support of other queer performers. When going on her “Midwest Princess tour,” Roan tends to look for local drag queens to open for her shows. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales goes to For the Gworls, an organization focused on raising money to assist black transgender people.
Her most recent single “Good Luck, Babe!” has become her most streamed song and even charted on Billboard Top 100. It peaked at number 77 with 6.6 million streams on April 20. That’s not the only song of hers that has grown tremendously. Most songs on her album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” have made substantial growth over the past few months.
Having an artist like Roan in the scene is so important to queer teens and the LGBTQ+ community. Songs like “After Midnight” and “Femininmenon” that explicitly show women-love-women relationships help impressionable adolescents find someone who understands their thoughts and feelings. It also gives them music to relate to when they can’t relate to the relationships in the more popular pop songs. In her song “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” she talks about realizing she is queer and says “I’m through / with all these hyper mega bummer boys like you / oh yeah, I need / a super graphic ultra modern girl like me.” She turned the understanding of her queerness into a fun pop song for others to sing along to.
Junior Angelica Medina said “I would say my favorite Chappell Roan song is California.’ ‘California’ is such a beautiful song about moving on in your life, no matter what people will think about you and I love that sentiment.”
Roan does not just make pop songs though, she also has very emotional tracks like “Coffee,” “Picture You,” and “Kaleidoscope.” She talks about the heartbreak and difficulties in queer relationships. She has so much range in her music and she didn’t even start in pop. Back in 2017 when she was first trying to make a name for herself, she released her first EP “School Nights” which was considered an Indie/Alternative breakout. She was recognized by another queer musician and icon Troye Sivan. In 2014 he tweeted “I’ve had [this] 16-year-old girl on repeat for 2 months. You HAVE to listen to this guys.” with a link to her YouTube video. Looks like he predicted her fame before we all did.
In her early career, she was heavily influenced by artists like Lorde, who had a very melancholic and rhythmic sound. In “School Nights” she sings with a ‘cursive’ accent which was decently popular at the time. The lyrics in her songs aged well though as they are very relatable for the target audience of Roan’s music.
Roan has already made a big name for herself and she’s going to keep growing as the days go on. The queer community and all her listeners can’t wait to see what she does next!