Trending 20th August 2024 by Aicha Chalouche

It’s A Femininomenon: How Chappell Roan Is Changing The Game In Pop Music

She’s fun, she’s camp, and she’s hot to go!

Midwestern princess Chappell Roan has soared to stardom recently, with hits like ‘Good Luck, Babe’ and ‘HOT TO GO!’ climbing up the charts, but what is it that makes the pop singer stand out so much?

As an openly queer artist, Chappell Roan came onto the scene at the perfect time. In recent years, prolific LGBTQ+ artists such as Troye Sivan, Renée Rapp and Janelle Monáe have turned pop music into a space where all forms of love and identities are expressed and celebrated unapologetically, and Chappell Roan has not held back in her own contributions to this scene.

Her music explores sexuality in its truest and most unapologetic form. Growing up as a queer person in a small town in Missouri was no easy feat, and Chappell tells the story of girlhood and navigating her sexuality through her songs, particularly in ‘Good Luck, Babe’ and ‘Naked In Manhattan’.

Although massive developments have been made in recent years regarding representation of the LGBTQ+ community in music, it’s only been very recently that queer girls have been given a voice through music. Chappell Roan’s music, free from any shame or judgement, provides that voice and creates songs that resonate with queer girls and their experiences.

The singer, originally born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, has described her alter ego Chappell Roan as “a drag-queen version of myself”. She’s known for her full beat drag get ups, often consisting of quirky makeup, giant messy hair, cowboy hats, glitter and tiaras. Chappell Roan openly expresses her admiration and love for drag queens and kings, and usually incorporates this into her performances.

During her tour in the US, she chose a trio of local drag queens to open for her shows. Chappell Roan also encourages her fans to go all out for her concerts, and not to hold back: “I wanna see makeup beat, outfits serving c*nt, wigs snatched.” So it’s not just her lyrics that resonate with the girls and the gays, but through her shows and concerts she also creates fun spaces where people can have fun, feel confident and be themselves. This idea is really summed up in her popular song ‘Pink Pony Club’, where she mentions a dream nightclub where “boys and girls can all be queens every single day.”

Chappell Roan’s music is also making waves because of the way it celebrates sex and pleasure with no shame. Even in today’s society, talking about sex and pleasure normally is still something of a taboo, especially for women. Chappell uses her music to break this stigma and allow women and queer people to see sex as a positive and normal thing. Sex and pleasure have always been a hot topic in all parts of the music industry, but there’s always been a focus on male pleasure and objectification of women.

It’s good to see artists like Chappell Roan rewriting this narrative, and reminding everyone that it is equally important for women to enjoy sex and to be open about it just as much as men, and that women can hold the power in their sexuality and are not just there for the convenience of men. 

Even the sound of Chappell Roan’s music itself is a breath of fresh air in the pop scene. It’s about time we’ve had some good, happy, disco dance music that we can jump around the kitchen to, or dance with our friends in the club. Chappell’s music is unique, campy and experimental, and that’s the reason it’s taking off so much.

The singer’s rise to fame has been a rapid one. She’s been making music for years, but it was only after the release of her latest album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwestern Princess that she reached the level of stardom she’s at now. At one of her shows in Raleigh, the singer teared up and opened up to her fans about how she’s struggling to navigate and keep up with this exponential rise to the top. “I just feel a little off today ‘cause I think my career is going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up…This is all I’ve ever wanted, it’s just heavy sometimes I think.”

It’s clear to see that Chappell Roan has hit the ground running, but it doesn’t look like she’s planning on giving up any time soon. We can’t wait for what she has planned next.

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