Chappell Roan.Photo:Ryan Clemens
Ryan Clemens
The inspiration behind the title ofChappell Roan’sdebut album came from her own tramp stamp.
“I have a tramp stamp that says princess and ‘Midwest princess,’ me being from the Midwest, it just made sense,” she giggles over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles.
On her debut albumThe Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which was released Sept. 22 via Amusement/Island Records, Roan plays with the dichotomy of a “small town girl [who] goes to a big city,” grappling with the reality that the spotlight isn’t quite as alluring as she once envisioned.
Roan, 25, knows that emotional rollercoaster well.
Born Kayleigh Amstutz (her stage name pays homage to her late grandfather) the singer-songwriter grew up in a Christian conservative household in Willard, Missouri. While she began playing piano in her youth, she realized she wanted to be a performer at 13 when she auditioned for a talent show.
However, she was still discovering her sound. By 2020, Roan seemed to be tapping more into her authenticity as an artist when she began working with Dan Nigro, the songwriter and producer who would earn acclaim for his work withOlivia Rodrigoon herbreakout LPSour.Together, they worked on the campy, synth-pop number “Pink Pony Club” which she released in April of that year, allowing the singer-songwriter to unabashedly embrace her queer awakening and pay homage to drag culture.
By summer 2020, she was close to leaving music altogether. “I was working the drive-through and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m just going to go to school’ because I really wanted to be… I still want to be an art therapist where I go into schools and do art through craft therapy,’” she tells PEOPLE.
Chappell Roan.Ryan Clemens
Roan, who was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder in 2022, found herself struggling even while gaining more exposure on the platform.
“The app breeds mental illness,” she asserts. “When I was really, really sick and I was posting twice a day and going live every day, it rewards that type of behavior. I had to really figure out what was right for me, and I’m still figuring that out.”
She adds, “It just was really difficult for me to learn how to express myself on TikTok in a way that didn’t feel like I was just dead inside, because I think most artists feel like social media is soul-sucking for art.”
Roan, who now has upwards of155,000 TikTok followers, says she had to be OK with “being cringe.” “I don’t want to f—ing be on there,” she shrugs.
Roan’s fanbase expanded as she continued releasing a string of singles — “My Kink Is My Karma,” “Femininonmenon,” “Casual”— and turned her live shows into theme parties with like “slumber party kissin’,” “goth grunge and glitter” and “so you wanna be a pop star,” which all came with a dress code.
“I think people like to party and I think my project feels like a party,” she says. “I think that people just want to be happy and reflect, sing, dance and dress up, and feel free. The project gives people an opportunity to express themselves without judgment and freedom to discover themselves in the same way that I feel like the project allows me to discover myself.”
“It’s just a great way to engage the local queer community to that city,” she explains. “I encourage people to tip the queens, that’s redistributing funds within the community there, and also it just gives a platform for the drag queens. Some of these queens have never performed in front of a crowd that big before, and it’s just fun.”
With the release of her long-awaited debut albumThe Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Roan embraces the ethos of her live shows with glittery pop bangers and cheeky choruses, featuring many of the singles that have helped Roan cement her place as a burgeoning pop star over the past few years as well as some newer numbers.
“They all are part of the same story that’s just been evolving for the past four years, and I just felt like they had to be in there,” Roan says of her decision to include many of her past singles. “I felt like they were part of the bigger picture, so they needed to be on the record.”
The album, she says, is “just daydreams in drag” — the result of doing “a lot of inner child work” and embracing herself unapologetically.
It’s what has allowed Roan to have the time of her life on her debut. With “Hot to Go!,” for instance, Roan mirrors the bratty angst of Rodrigo’s “Get Him Back!” and “Good 4 U” with a “cheerleading song.”
“I solely wrote it for crowd participation, because I love the ‘YMCA’ and I love the ‘Macarena,’ how everyone knows it,” she laughs. During a songwriting session with Nigro, she Googled classic cheers, and stumbled upon “hot to go.” But she put her own twist on it: “I was like, ‘What if the song’s just about being hot?’”
She also doesn’t shy away from being vulgar. Jumping off of the wistfully horny “Casual,” Roan shares “Guilty Pleasure” on the record — an exhilarating ‘80s club-meets-Madonna’sRay of Lightanthem primed for the dancefloor. “Feels like pornography /Watching you try on jeans,” she muses.
“My mom hates it,” she says of her raunchy lyrics.
With the release ofThe Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Roan is on the verge of a new level of fame — she’s even slated to open for her friend Rodrigo on the2024GutsWorld Tour.
Is there a possibility they’ll work together on music?
“I would be so down to collaborate if she wanted to, but honestly, whatever she’s up for, I don’t push for that type of stuff,” she says.
Roan has some other dreams of her own. She wants to do a co-headlining show with Trixie Mattel andMUNAand would love to open forDua Lipa. She also hopes a judge slot onRuPaul’s Drag Raceis in the cards for her one day.
“A collab with makeup or something would be cute,” she says. “I think there’s just so many fun things that we could do.”
source: people.com
