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| Chappell Roan. Photograph: Ryan Lee Clemens |
Chappell Roan, a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Willard, Missouri, stands out in the risk-averse, self-consciously tasteful pop landscape. Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is one of the most over-the-top and gloriously tasteless debuts in recent memory, sounding like Patsy Cline, 80s Madonna, and RuPaul at his nastiest. Born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Roan was raised as a "God girl" attending church three times a week and was enthralled by pop music of the late 00s and early 10s, such as Kesha, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry.
Roan grew up feeling very different and knew from a young age that she wanted to be a star. She loved watching award shows and started writing songs on a whim in her early teens. By her late teens, she was signed to Atlantic Records, which had been impressed by her cover videos she had posted on YouTube. She adopted her stage name in honor of her late grandfather, Dennis Chappell, and his favorite song, Marty Robbins’ The Strawberry Roan.
For much of her late teens and early 20s, Roan hustled in development. In 2020, she began working in Los Angeles with Dan Nigro, soon finding fame for his work with Olivia Rodrigo. She was terrified and thrilled by being in a big city for the first time, and was elated to find queer freedom in West Hollywood's storied gay bars.
After writing Pink Pony Club, a showtune-style empowerment anthem, Roan wrote it shortly after its release. Atlantic dropped her, feeling the single had underperformed, and she moved back home, heartbroken. She saved enough money to move west again and gave herself 12 months to push through. In LA, she resumed working with Nigro and signed with Amusement, his imprint at Island Records. The songs from those sessions became Midwest Princess, which has now been streamed tens of millions of times.
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