Lipstick on her teeth, a stubbed cigarette in bird’s nest hair and an all-pink ensemble - Chappell Roan’s entrance to mainstream pop has been refreshingly intense. When I first saw her Tiny Desk Performance, published in late March of this year, I was gripped by her vocal ability and unique stage persona. A strong, 80s-esque mix of Madonna and Kate Bush, Chappell’s voice has come resounding into public consciousness alongside her shining star image. Her elaborate outfits and crowd-pleasing gay anthems mark the return of iconic female artists who dominated the pop scene with their distinctive stage performances in the 90s and early 2000s.

In case you weren’t aware, Roan’s latest Album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, has risen to the forefront of recent pop culture, gaining huge traction online alongside videos of her live performances on TikTok. In fact, many people’s first-time hearing of Roan was when her single, ‘Casual’, became a viral sound for queer women to post their experience with casual dating. The on-the-nose lyrics of ‘knee deep in the passenger seat and you’re eating me out’ has become a candid recollection of Gen-Z dating culture. The song focuses on situationships in the context of wlw romance and the dissonance between being intensely intimate with someone and labelling it as a passing fling. 

As it stands, much of Roan’s discography could be described as part of the lesbian revenge pop genre. Not because Roan emphasises hostility for failed relationships in her songwriting, in fact I would argue quite the opposite. Roan manages to convey a powerful message of moving on from the past into a new, upbeat realm of queer existence. Her newest single, “Good Luck Babe!”, is particularly full of a spiteful well-wishing. The lyrics imagine a world where the song’s recipient will keep repressing their queer identity until they end up ‘kiss[ing] a hundred boys in bars’ to escape their feelings; eventually becoming ‘nothing more than his wife’. Of course, with lyrics that outline someone’s denial of queer love in the face of heteronormative pressure, the song describes a fate full of regret. Roan, being in a place of self-acceptance, wishes them a simple, salutary good luck. Though, with her own flair, she adds her own vengeful twist to the lyrics to highlight the paradoxical nature of the comphet thought process.

Despite first appearance, Roan’s rise into the limelight has not been an overnight event. In fact, she was first discovered as a teenager after posting music covers online and was signed onto her first record label deal with Atlantic Records at only 17. Missing most of the end of high school, Roan dedicated her time travelling to and from New York and L.A for the sake of building a career. However, Roan endured years of rigorous work trying to break into the industry with limited success. Finally, after covid dampened the reception to her party-perfect song ‘Pink Pony Club’, her label dropped her. 

For two years, Roan had to juggle jobs while supporting herself as an independent artist. It was only after this time, where Roan took to reforming her star image, that she truly began to receive her flowers. In 2022, she opened for Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR’s tour and supported Rodrigo’s GUTS tour earlier this year. Her supporting acts were promptly followed by a hugely successful Coachella performance and now using the Midwestern influences of her youth to form the basis of her brand, Roan champions her thrift-shop costumes and Western glamour for all to see.

Since her success, fans have been charmed by these humble beginnings with many videos online resurfacing from the past, including an early performance of ‘Pink Pony Club’, where Chappell is stood in a park accompanying herself on the keyboard. Her emergence as a star has been hard-won and makes her recent debut all the more exciting for audiences to witness. Roan has reinvigorated the pop scene by making music for queer people that is meant to be danced to and delivering it with mythic level performances. It is no surprise that Roan’s onstage presence has resulted in so many fans gravitating towards her music. 

Something particularly commendable about Roan is her inherent inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community in her work. Alongside her lyrics appealing to contemporary, queer, Gen-Z audiences, Roan’s stage persona is unapologetically camp. She considers her performance artistry as drag, with Chappell as a persona with which she can build an entire conceptual world. Not only this, but Roan also provides her fans with a space to be involved in queer culture, often choosing a concert theme for audiences to dress up alongside her. Roan has also regularly sourced local drag performers to open for her shows and consistently speaks on the importance of creating safe spaces in and outside of music. 

In an interview with ABC News, after it was noted how a portion of her ticket sales fundraise for LGBTQ+ charities, she asserted that: “I think it’s important to give back to the queer community, they give everything to me. It’s my duty.”

Roan’s recent work has truly solidified her as a new icon for the community, with stars as high-profile as Ru Paul himself lip-syncing to the legendary quote from her show at Coachella. As Roan herself said before breaking into song:

“I’m your dream girl’s dream girl and I’m going to serve exactly what you are, C*NT.”