Among many rising pop stars, one seems to stand out in particular, Chappell Roan. Chappell Roan is unlike many other pop stars rising in fame due to the fact that she did not have a start in Hollywood or anywhere near the state of California. And she definitely did not have an overnight success story. She built her career in the quaint Missouri town of Willard, home to 6,511 people as of 2022. It was there that she started as Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, a conservative church girl in a small town. Which is quite a contrast to Chappell Roan, a queer 1980s synth-pop and drag queen aesthetic-inspired musical artist.
Her official career started in May of 2015 when she signed a music deal with Atlantic Records, still under the name of Kayleigh Rose. However, in 2016 out of respect for her recently departed grandfather (Dennis K. Chappell), she took on the artist’s name of Chappell Roan. Chappell released a single and an EP before finally moving from her small town in Missouri to the big city of Los Angeles. There she was able to finally express her true self without the judgment of her parents’ conservative views. This enabled her to write songs she could actually relate to and felt like her. After her move, in 2018, she went on tour with Declan McKenna across the U.S. and started to work with writer and producer Dan Nigro. With Nigro, she was able to release a popular single “Pink Pony Club” in April of 2020. The song was inspired by a queer bar that Chappell visited in West Hollywood called The Abbey. She went on to release two more singles in 2020 that did not receive as much traction, leading Atlantic Records to drop her from the label. She spent the next two years working several different jobs to support her independent work, as Nigro was busy with the production of other albums. Eventually, she temporarily moved back to Missouri to focus even more on her music.
By the time she moved back to Los Angeles she had gotten a publishing deal with Sony and in February of 2022 was back to working with Nigro. Chappell then started dropping independent singles like Pokémon cards. Making each one bigger and bolder than the last one, experimenting with her queerness in these songs. In February of 2023, she started her Naked in North America Tour, where she started experimenting with her eclectic and campy style, having different themes for each of the concerts and drag queens performing as the openers. Next, in September of 2023, she dropped her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, which included all her previous singles and more. The album kicked off her second tour, the Midwest Princess tour, traveling across North America and many major cities in Europe and Australia, leading to a career breakthrough.
In 2024, she made several different songs, making her streams rise. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the release of her hit single “Good Luck, Babe!”, making it onto the Spotify top 10 in its first week. This song also resulted in her album rising to the top 10 on Billboard 200, which led to more performances and fame. What is truly amazing about her rise to success is the fact that it took 10 years, not a week. Her story shows us that hard work can be rewarding, and to not give up, despite the obstacles.