Chappell Roan‘s rise has been a very gradual one. The first single from her 2023 debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (“Pink Pony Club”) came out all the way back in 2020, and as she continued rolling out the album, almost every new single led to another new breakthrough (“My Kink Is Karma,” “Femininomenon,” “Casual,” “Red Wine Supernova,” and “Hot to Go!” included). She opened both the Sour and Guts tours for Olivia Rodrigo (with whom she shares producer/co-writer Dan Nigro of As Tall As Lions), went on her own headlining tour in between, and cracked a bunch of 2023 year-end lists with Midwest Princess, but it wasn’t really until spring of 2024 that things started skyrocketing. Right after wrapping up her run on the Guts tour, she dropped her biggest hit yet with “Good Luck, Babe!,” played Coachella, and started becoming inescapable.
Chappell continued to make waves on the festival circuit when the size of her Boston Calling crowd went viral, and the same thing is already happening with the aerial footage of her massive crowd at NYC’s Governors Ball on Sunday (6/9) afternoon. I was in that massive New York crowd, and I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like Chappell won over just about everyone in attendance.
The Chappell Roan moniker is a drag-inspired persona (her birth name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz), and in NYC, she donned a drag-inspired costume of “the biggest queen of all,” The Statue of Liberty, while her bandmates (who are all women) were dressed as taxi cabs. (Chappell also did an outfit change halfway through the set and came back out in her own taxi outfit.) Her band bring as much power to the stage as she does (including an especially heroic Queen-like guitar solo at one point), and Chappell herself is the real deal on every level. Her voice sounds amazing, she already comes off like a seasoned star, and she totally owned the crowd with a set that already felt like a greatest hits.
In an era where the lines between “pop” and “indie/alternative” seem blurrier than ever, Chappell Roan is the best of both worlds. Whether it’s alt-rock anthem “Red Wine Supernova,” the Devo-esque new wave of “Hot to Go!,” or indie ballad “Casual,” Chappell’s music obviously leans “alt,” and the way she gels with her band is not that different from a great indie rock show. But at the same time, she’s a total pop superstar. She has a little something for everyone and she stands out from all of her contemporaries. She’s a new kind of pop star that the new generation can call their own.
Chappell had a surprise in store when she debuted a new ballad-driven song during her set called “Subway,” and she also took the opportunity to tell the crowd that she turned down the White House when they asked her to give a Pride performance. “We want liberty, justice and freedom for all,” she said. “When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
She continued, referencing her Lady Liberty costume, “In case you had forgotten what’s etched on my pretty little toes, ‘Give me your tired, your poor; your huddled masses yearning to breath free.’ That means freedom and trans rights, that means freedom and women’s rights, and it especially means freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories.” She seemed to get genuinely emotional, and was met by huge cheers.
Festival schedules are tight, and Chappell’s 45-minute set felt all too short as she walked off stage without enough time to give much of a proper goodbye, and I’m sure everyone there would’ve wanted more if time allowed for it. Let’s hope she’s back in NYC soon! Update: she will be!
Check out videos of the new song, the White House speech, and more, plus her setlist and more pictures of Chappell’s GovBall set by Toby Tenenbaum, below…
Setlist
Femininomenon
Naked in Manhattan
Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl
HOT TO GO!
Casual
Subway (new song, live debut)
Red Wine Supernova
Good Luck, Babe!
My Kink Is Karma
Pink Pony Club