Singer Chappell Roan’s career skyrocketed after she released her song “Good Luck, Babe!” now on Billboard’s Hot 100 and drew in a crowd of over 40,000 people at the Boston Calling music festival in May. Her theatrical style and passionately fun music has drawn in fans from every demographic. Roan’s fame stems from her humanity as she unveils the effects of her tour on her mental health and highlights the LGBTQIA+ community to eradicate our celestial vision of celebrities.
Kayleigh Amstutz (her name before she was Chappell) signed with Atlantic Records when she was 17 after releasing the song “Die Young” on YouTube in 2015. She took a break from music in 2020 and thought about going back to school, as discussed in an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In 2023, Roan released her album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” with Island Records, which was not an immediate success. Tickets on sale in January cost only $30-$50 dollars. However, by the end of January, her pre-sale tickets were sold out, and resale ticket prices rose to nearly $700.
Roan’s fanbase, originally contained mostly within the LGBTQIA+ community, has expanded to reach everyone. Many viral TikTok videos show straight people laughing at their admiration for Roan with the awareness her music isn’t specifically for them. They acknowledge their place outside of this community, and it moves people to embrace everyone into the joys of queer icons.
In the interview with Jimmy Fallon on June 21, Fallon discussed Roan’s nickname, calling herself “Your favorite artist’s favorite artist.” She stopped him politely to clarify her reference to Sasha Colby who said, “I’m your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen.” Roan said she made the comment in hopes Colby would one day watch her sing.
In giving credit to the ones who came before her, she sheds light to queer culture’s history that the rest of the world isn’t always aware of. The importance of staying in the now with novelty pop culture is becoming increasingly important; when Roan gives credit to her inspiration, she provides a glimpse into decades of cultural references that have new prominence because of her popularity.
The relatability of Roan’s lyrics and personality make her a celebrity for the people. She’s humble about her upbringing and is grateful for any recognition. In her interview with Fallon, she said, “I feel kind of like I made it already whenever I was like, ‘Oh my God, people showed up to my concert’ a few years ago. Everything else has been the cherry on top.”
In addition, Roan presents herself on social media in a more casual fashion. This online presence has the same effect as influencer Emma Chamberlain who quickly rose to fame after sharing silly videos of regular life that fans could relate to. Roan posts behind-the-scenes pictures and satirical, silly photoshoots. For her 2024 tour, she shared themes on Instagram for each location with mood and a specific aesthetic for the crowd to match. She captioned it saying, “I encourage y’all to dress up with me. Don’t worry u will not be the only one hahah.” With that behavior, fans can relate to her and see her as a friend.
After almost a decade of releasing music, Roan’s career took off in less than a year with astounding support and love. On June 12 at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, North Carolina, she had a moment of vulnerability with the crowd showing the impact of the tour on her mental health.
“I just want to be honest with the crowd and I just feel a little off today because I think that my career has just kind of gone really fast, and it’s really hard to keep up,” she said. “I’m not trying to give you a lesser show, it’s just there’s a lot on my mind.”
Moments like these where celebrities are honest with their fans and show humanity in their work bring people to love them even more. The crowd responded by continuing to cheer, saying they love her no matter what and they understand how hard this journey could be. This is just the start of Roan’s career which takes the queer community with it and brings a change to the face of pop culture.
Libby Evans is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Libby know by emailing her at le422021@ohio.edu.
