Chappell Roan, is a 25-year-old queer artist from the Midwest who captivated audiences by being unapologetically herself through her creative expression and musical endeavors. With music videos that feature sapphic romance and out-of-this-world imagery, her music has become a staple in the queer community. 

On Sept. 22, Roan will be releasing her highly anticipated debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess through Island Records. I had the pleasure of getting to sit down and discuss the upcoming album in a press conference hosted by Universal Music Group’s 1824° program. 

When first delving into the sonic inspirations for this album and how her sound has changed over the course of time in anticipation for this record, Roan explained, “I mean it’s drastically changed, I feel like we did 180. I used to be very…dark piano ballad, pop, very Lorde, Lana [Del Rey] esq like Tumblr days. I was just a teenager and really depressed and sad so I think it really reflected that.”

Roan’s first EP School Nights is very reminiscent of the Tumblr era as she discussed with a darker color being featured to her voice and more stripped down instrumentals coupled with a very serious tone. But it’s this early exploration that allowed for a balance between the fun campiness and seriousness that Roan still presents in her music today.

 “What really changed was when I moved to LA and my eyes were open to so many new things, and so many fun people and things I started doing that I never thought I would be able to do, and I think that the new sound just reflected what was genuinely going on in my life.” 

“I think my teenage self would be like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Like I was really different. I just shaved off my eyebrows randomly in the morning [on a] Saturday and I was like, ‘These are coming off.’ I never would’ve done that when I was a teenager. I never would’ve accepted that I liked women as a teenager… I was just so scared to be myself because I felt so restricted where I was from, with the religious aspect, with the gender roles aspect, with the really small Christian community that was not amplified. I don’t know a single gay girl at my school,” she went on to say when asked about what she would say to her past self. 

The artist has found a way to uplift the community and amplify queer voices within her own work, and it’s beautiful to see that she’s experienced so much growth as she began to create music. In many ways Roan provides a space for queer youth that she never had growing up, and it’s beautiful to see the positive impact that she has had through her platform.

She continued by saying, “If I saw myself now when I was 16, I would be like, oh wait, there’s no way I would do that, there’s no way I would let myself write a song that simply is about being a hot person and being a cheerleader like I’m too serious for that,’ and if I had to give her advice, I would just say follow your gut.” The singer went on to explain that when she was younger, she felt like she had to be prettier or smarter and was simply never enough. She expressed that now she would make it clear to her younger self that she is all of those things stating, “You are enough exactly how you are, in every aspect.”

With Roan leaving a time period where she couldn’t be openly queer, she opened up about what it’s like to be able to explore that part of her identity freely through art. “You know there’s a lot of heavy topics that go into queerness unfortunately… I don’t know a lot of people who don’t have any trauma connected to their either coming out or being queer, or dealing with homophobia… I think that I simply just write what I feel or what I wish would happen. I think that a lot of people really daydream and wish for things…at the end of the day people just want to feel something sometimes that pulls them out of the pits of despair whether that is like a party song, or something like ‘Kaleidoscope’ where it was just this was really kind of blunt I am sad, but I am in love. That kind of vibe.”

When delving more into the way that she is able to support the community and bring a voice to others, Roan had this to say, “I am LGBTQ+ so I think that having a voice that is supported by other people… even just having someone who pushes through as a queer person I think is really amazing. Obviously queer people, especially right now are just being targeted in every way, so I don’t expect other queer artists to do anymore except live… There’s pressure for, especially I would say women and queer people to do more than just being simply queer.”

In today’s current climate drag queens and trans people in particular are being targeted in a way that we haven’t seen in recent years. For many it feels as though we are going backwards and experiencing a trans genocide. Roan is known for featuring a number of drag queens during her shows that are local from the area in which she performs and donates a percentage of every ticket to Black and trans charities. This is just one way that she is supporting the community during a dire time. 

“I’m very inspired by drag in every aspect. I mean, obviously, I have drag artists open for me. I have three local drag performers for every city that I headline, and I think that drag has really inspired the project with styling, makeup, performance, the music videos, kind of the energy around the entire show. Just the writing like campiness is kind of at the forefront of the project and the identity, and I think that’s also the forefront of drag is just campiness, over the top, supposed to be fun and dramatic,” she said. 

When asked about drag queens that she would specifically like to collaborate with in the future, Roan named a few, “I love Katya [Zamo] and Trixie [Mattel]. Crystal Method is from my hometown, which I would love to talk to her.  I love, obviously Ru[Paul], legend. I mean there are so many…Probably Trixie, I think it would be so fun to do a little tour together or something.” She also revealed she does not watch RuPaul’s Drag Race and knows about these amazing queens through pop culture. 

The artist went on to highlight that her work, her crew on tour and the directors  she works with are queer. Her entire creative sphere is surrounded by the queer community. “I just want to see queer kids make it out alive right now. That is what I want and I can do the best I can but at the end of the day it’s like, as long as we’re here, we’re here and we’re queer.” The power in that statement left an unforgettable impression of strength within Chappell Roan. 

Despite all of the seriousness that queer people are facing in the world right now, the singer made it clear that her goal for her debut record is to bring light and not take the world too seriously. 

When asked what fans can expect, the artist said, “Prepare to be silly…don’t take it so seriously. I find myself with music when I listen to something brand new, I’m super hyper-critical of it…Give it a chance. It’s gonna feel silly, expect yourself to not like something immediately, but allow yourself to feel silly and fun. If you like it, great. If you don’t like it, great.”

Part of the fun that Roan as an artist has is the ability to name her songs unique and interesting titles that really fit her aesthetic and break the mold, “Femininominon is obviously not a word, and I was actually going to name the album ‘Femininominon’, but I was just so frustrated that nobody could say it right. I was like ‘I’m gonna lose my mind,’ it’s literally horrible…We were just bouncing back-and-forth of like phenomenon. It’s a feminine phenomenon. We’ll just push it together or Naked In Manhattan. It’s kind of like how publications will have a crazy headline, and it’s just like clickbait.” 

The song “Femininominon,” similar to its name, is not afraid to unapologetically have fun and play with words, featuring lyrics such as “Get it hot like Papa John.” Its lyrics like this no matter how silly they may appear on the surface that can allow people to let loose, just have fun, and embrace who they are. 

In fact, the artist discussed the perfect setup for when and where to listen to the record. “Maybe like a slumber party for the homebody girlies, and then… a lot of people tell me, ‘Oh, this is our getting ready to go out music.’ I get told that a lot or like singing in the car at night with all your friends, road trip music. So, I think yes, it’s fun to dance to and there’s definitely a couple of songs where I’m like, ‘Okay, I wrote this for the gay club. This is for the club.” But I think that because the songs are so narrative, they can be listened to in a small house party or driving or just having fun with your friends. I think craft night is really fun to listen to it, or like a fun girly slumber party.”

The common theme between the environments described is not only a sense of community between the people that you love and being surrounded by warmth or a good time but also this idea of girlhood and what it means to be a young woman having fun with her friends.

Aside from the singles that have been already released, Roan revealed her favorite track off of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is an unreleased track. “Well, it’ll be out in a couple weeks so you won’t know this, but my favorite song that’s out right now is ‘Feminominon.‘ She doesn’t get enough credit, but I love ‘Guilty Pleasure.‘ It’s the song that I love the most off the whole album. It’s not out yet obviously, but we’ll be performing it on tour.” 

When describing the overall theme for the album, the artist said, “I would say the thing that is a common theme is the honesty through each song, just not being afraid of the boldness of the lyrics or the sounds or just randomly having guitar solos. There’s no fear in that being too much so I think that’s the common theme.”

In terms of the dynamic of the album with the rise and fall as the title suggests, Roan dug in, stating that ‘Feminominon’ is the rise “because I talk about [being] stuck in the suburbs folding his laundry. You know, [I] talk about how horrible it is.” She explained that the track represents this dream that she sort of has. Another track mentioned as the rise is one that is not yet released and will be out on the 22nd which is entitled, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl.” “That one’s coming out, that’s the lead single, that one’s going to be really crazy,” Roan said.  In terms of the song that represents the fall, she cited the track “California.” ‘California’ is a song about coming to LA and following your dreams and just feeling like it didn’t come true and that you just want to come home because you let everyone down, you let yourself down…same with ‘Coffee,’ same with ‘Kaleidoscope,‘ just feeling like you fell in love and it didn’t work.” 

We all then discussed her music videos and the way that visually her creative expression is able to translate for this record. For example the “Hot To Go” music video features her hometown while bringing the usual campy flare that Chappell Roan always carries. The music video also features her grandparents which brings in the new aspects of her expression like bold outfits to the mix of home. 

The “Casual” music video is a favorite of mine. Hearing about the sapphic influences and what it meant to her truly helped to make the music video even more special as a viewer. The video features a siren luring Roan into the ocean. When asked what made her decide upon this imagery, the singer explained, “I picked a siren just simply because there’s the fairytale behind women luring men to their death, like a beautiful mermaid girl, but we never depict what a siren would do with another woman.”

She explained the personal meaning of the imagery. “There’s so many layers, but I fell in love with the siren, but she obviously… that’s not what she wanted from me. It was just something casual for her, and I wanted her to move in with me and she was for the ocean and not to be in love like sirens lure with their desire. I just wanted to explore the queer relationship of that.”

“My favorite scene is the underwater kissing one just because it’s so beautiful, but I also really love her coming out of the water at the very beginning because she looks so scary and I just like kind of freaky things,” she finished about the cinematography. 

She later went on to explain that exploring sapphic relationships that aren’t typically seen in media is a common goal of exploration in music videos. One example that was given was the idea of alien girls falling in love, clowns, magicians and other fun careers or identities to play around with visually.

After talking about every aspect of the record from visuals to sound and inspiration, Roan expressed what she enjoyed most about getting to make this album overall. “I loved creating songs for the audience, specifically songs for audience participation. My favorite part of my job is live performance, touring, so I think writing the songs with that in mind was so fun and I just loved how involved I was with the independent aspect of it. Teaching myself to do drag, teaching myself to rhinestone, and just do everything myself because I had no money.” The other aspect of getting to create the album that stuck out was getting to work with friends to scrap everything together and to be able to do everything with a group of people. 

The idea of themes being attached to each show on her upcoming tour also came up. For example, one theme is going to be devils and angels to encourage people to dress up and become a part of the show. 

“I’ve just always wanted themes like for the drag queen aspect. I got that from Orville Peck because I saw him perform at the Troubadour in West Hollywood and he had this drag queen named Meatball who is actually in the ‘Pink Pony Club’ video. He had her open and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m doing that.’ It was like 2018… and I did. It was so fun.”

Roan went on to explain what drew her to drag from the beginning, “Along with drag it kind of comes with the campiness of I love dressing up, I love having a reason.  Halloween is the only day that everyone gets to do that and I was just like, you know there’s so many places in the country that the only day they really get to wear rainbow is pride,’ or they can’t…even [with] ‘My Kink is Karma,’ I encourage people to just wear what makes you feel hot, wear what makes you feel sexy like something that is not appropriate anywhere else. The themes are an opportunity for everyone to dress up and the show is not only on stage but also in line, at the merch table, next to you, front row, it just builds such community and I love it so much.”

Many different fandoms have been finding ways to incorporate community activities like dressing up or making friendship bracelets into the concerts, and it adds a whole other level to the experience. Not only does it make the concert feel like a bigger event and a more memorable moment in time, but it also helps to create a sense of belonging and comfort when going to the show.

Other exciting things are coming with this tour for the first time including upgraded tour transportation, “I’m on a bus for the first time in my life like I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost ten years, I’m not even kidding. It takes a long time to be able to afford a tour bus. Otherwise, you’re just in a van or something, so I am very much looking forward to that. I am very much looking forward to playing the entire album, we’re going song by song. These songs have been in the vault for years and some of them for four years. I’m just so excited to finally expel that energy and like feel what it feels like to hear the crowd singing ‘Kaleidoscope’ with me back or ‘Red Wine’ or ‘Hot To Go.’” She explained that the latter song just came out, so she has not been able to perform it live in a room where people fully know the song, not to mention the excitement with the themes and the outfits that are to come on stage. 

Another aspect of playing live is the fan interaction that Roan is able to bring into the experience. She even had an experience where fans could be interviewed in line by a Bratz doll which she also explained was an aesthetic inspiration that she would love to write a song about or be able to recreate in a look. Another layer of this interaction was when she created a call line for “Hot To Go.” She went on to joke about the amount of barking that can be heard on these voicemails stating, “I asked for it, I asked for unhinged messages…I cry laughing, it’s so insane to me.” 

Widening the lens a little bit on her musical career outside of this leg, the conversation also went into the direction of talking about creative freedom in terms of the music industry and being signed to a label. 

“It’s interesting now because I have less obstacles, but I think when I was independent like I had freedom but there were limitations because [of] money, and I was creatively free. I feel like I am definitely steering the ship. I don’t have anyone telling me what I can and can’t do and now that there aren’t so many monetary restrictions, there’s so many options… It’s kind of crazy.

“I feel like I have such a solid identity within my project and what feels good and what I know is right, what my gut is telling me and that’s what guides my creative partners, the outfits, the color palettes because I am free to do that even just with being signed to Island, I was very upfront and being before I signed just saying, ‘I will be doing what I want so just know that’ because it works…I don’t really have the answer to anyone because it works and it has proven to work the past two years, so yeah, I’m all for artist creative control, but you definitely have to know what you want. That’s the number one thing.” It takes guts especially in big industries to be able to advocate for yourself and the vision that you have. As an artist Roan has proven time and time again to be truly admirable when it comes to following your heart and what feels right. 

Going back to the personal growth that was talked about earlier in the conference, the artist highlighted the difference in perspective as you age and the importance of honoring her inner child to guide her decisions. “I’ve never done before because I was a child and I still feel like a teenager at 25, but I think the thing that has changed the most allowing myself to feel silly, and I know I keep saying that, but it is so important for me to just let go, and dress up, and sing fun pop songs for a little bit,” she said. 

“As I grow, the project grows with me, and as I experience more outrageous things in my life, the songs kind of just get more and more outrageous. The stories are definitely embellished just because it’s more fun to write a song that is more cohesive and interesting than to just be like ‘oh yeah, this person we don’t even talk.’ For “Casual” I didn’t know anyone’s mom in Long Beach or I’ve never had car sex, like I had no idea what I was talking about, like no idea. I think that as long as I am changing, the music is changing with me, and that’s why the singles like “Hot To Go” [are] so different from “Pink Pony Club” because [they were] written years apart, so I think that’s where the change comes in,” she opened up further. 

On the topic of personal growth came the discussion of the struggle between managing the alter ego of Chappell Roan  and her real identity as Kayleigh Amstutz. “I would love to know the answer for how to create boundaries. Personally, I don’t know any artist that has got it… I think that has to do with any work job… It is like drag. I’m in drag. Chappell is my drag name. My real name is Kayleigh, and I am a drag queen every night and sing my own songs. The hard part is kind of finding peace away, because it is so much larger than life, and it is so exhausting to be this character because it is so extravagant and loud and sexy and my personality is a sliver of that.”

“I think as I’ve gotten more kind of consumed in my work, it is harder and harder. The busier I get, the harder the boundaries become to uphold. Every artist I think struggles with finding a balance, a healthy balance, and everyone I think in general struggles with a healthy balance, work-life balance, because we’re not supposed to really be working all the time but we are. I’m struggling with that…The lines are blurred for sure right now but like when I’m off for holiday break, nope, but the rest of the year is blurry.” 

It was refreshing to hear Roan open up so honestly about the struggle with maintaining a healthy balance as a lot of artists struggle with this parasocial sort of relationship that can be developed or understanding where they begin and where the stage ends. 

When I asked what her next biggest goal is for her career, she said, “Honestly, my next biggest goal of my career is just to figure out how to deal with all of this and in a healthy way…I need to figure out how to calm down. This is a lot of pressure and it’s just unsustainable energy.

“My biggest goal is to try to find a way to balance this because right now, it’s really hard. It’s not working the way I want it to emotionally. I mean, it’s amazing. It’s really hard whenever you’ve been working for like almost a decade and then everything comes so fast at once. It’s like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve been preparing for this,’ but now it’s so much that you’re kind of overwhelmed, so I think adjusting is my biggest goal.” 

Burnout can happen especially in creative careers when you are monetizing off of your ideas and emotional expressions. It takes courage to be able to continue to create art even under pressure and to go beyond that and share it with the world. 

“I really struggle with imposter syndrome, like every day. I’m just really having a hard time with it because like there’s just so much awesome stuff happening but like that’s always been, a struggle but the thing that has really changed it’s just like allowing the younger Kayleigh in me who loved Britney, who loves playing dress-up, who literally my eyes popped out of my head when ‘Bad Romance’” came out, [who] loved the Katy Perry movie…Allowing that version of myself to be seen, and honored, because of how I grew up with religion, and just as there’s so many things in the Midwest that you are told you can and can’t be. Just shining the spotlight on her life and I think that’s what’s changed the most.”

It’s clear that Kayleigh has worked hard for everything coming her way and the opportunities that she has been able to create for herself while also uplifting other creators. Hopefully through this tour and through being able to unapologetically explore her identity and inner child, she can navigate the stardom that is so well deserved .

To see the artist live on her upcoming tour, you can check out her Instagram and the Chappell Roan website for more information. A Connecticut date was just announced in New Haven slotted for April, and she will be opening shows for Olivia Rodrigo. The world is just days away from her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which can be found on all streaming platforms.