On September 11, 2024, one of the hottest artists to top the charts, Chappell Roan, won the momentous title of ‘Best New Artist’ at the 2024 MTV’s VMA’s. “For all the queer kids in the Midwest,” Roan addressed during her VMA acceptance speech, “If you are watching, I see you, I understand you, because I’m one of you.”
Before her heartfelt speech, Roan took to the stage, and flawlessly performed one of her breakout singles, “Good Luck Babe!” A single which garnered over 100 million streams in June, rising to number six on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been stapled a “song of the summer” in queer spaces.
“Wishing good luck to someone who is denying fate.” as Roan described in a Rolling Stone interview from April 2024. The message of ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ Sapphic tone resonated with fans who experienced similar heart-wrenching relationships.
“The new theme song of the next chapter.” Roan described the single, perfectly capturing her monumental rise from a struggling small-town queer artist from Missouri to a recognized voice for the LGBTQ+ in just a few months.
Chappell Roan, or Kayleigh Amstutz, grew up in a conservative Christian household, always questioning her sense of self in a world that felt limiting. From a 2023 Variety interview, Roan described her childhood as “depressing,” Roan added how her suppressed sexuality was encouraged by her parents as “being gay was bad and a sin.”
“I just wanted to feel like a good person, but I had this part of me that wanted to escape so bad.” Roan was desperate, but found her saving grace through music, and her inspiration to pursue stardom.
In 2017, after a quiet startup posting covers on YouTube, Roan found recognition from Atlantic Records, and released her EP ‘School Nights’ . The alternative album was met with mixed criticism, and little success.
In 2023, Roan’s most recognized EP The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess released as “the absolute opposite” compared to ‘School Nights’s “edgier” vibe. Viral singles like “Femininomenon,” “Red Wine Supernova”, and “Hot to Go!” became hit after hit on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms.
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is a love-letter to Chappell Roan’s journey in self- expression, with her eye-catching drag-esque inspired look, her unapologetic queerness, and energetic personality that millions of fans have come to adore from the aspiring pop queen.
