All hail Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, AKA Chappell Roan

she's currently on tour promoting her first album. i saw her for the first time at Heaven in London tonite - holy fuck.

started off with an incredible drag performance by inga rock and someone else whose name i didn't catch. chappell apparently always chooses local drag acts for her openers, which is very cool.

her set got off to kind of a rough start (no fault of hers) - for the first couple songs her vocals were mixed really low. also his girl next to me was singing every single lyric, very shrill and out of tune, directly into my ear

then they turned her vocal up and oh my god. she's everything. she's an absolute superstar and i'm so grateful i got to see her before she really takes off. she's an INCREDIBLE singer and has such a fantastic, warm, confident stage presence. she just seemed to be having so much fun and she had incredible chemistry with her band (aubrey on bass and lucy on drums - both were fantastic)

please do yourselves a favour and listen to this piece of pure american pop magic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePsqyPMIg6I

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Didnt mean for that to look sarcastic I’m just emphatically agreeing .

<3

i’m gonna keep on dancing at the pink pony club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4WiXKGCJhg

really incredible tiny desk

That was very nice indeed!

"Casual" and "Coffee" are the ones I keep sending to friends. I've heard this in a few other places, but she seems like a great example of someone who grew up with Max Martin 2000s songs and fully leans into that as well ("H.O.T.T.O.G.O." etc)

Got around to the Tiny Desk this morning, sounds great live without all the layers of the studio versions.

knee deep in the passenger seat and you're eating me ouuuuuut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RKqOmSkGgM

pink pony club is an earworm

Coachella set happening at the moment, the audience is crazy and knows every word:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13QtsdFLVG4

Really a fantastic set, and I think it wasn’t a mixing/editing thing but the audience really was so intensely connected to the music. She did great.

I saw her live this past Monday in KC, and the entire audience was exactly like that, intensely singing every word, even for the new song that came out just a few days before. Plus they were dressed in some variation of pink cowboy gear (like, 90% of the crowd was in pink cowboy gear, we didn't get the memo). It sold out one venue, got moved to a larger venue, and sold it out. If that's happening across the country - which I imagine is the case - she's truly on the rise. And deservedly so...

Seems like she just keeps building momentum, just based on from friends and others discovering her in the past months + hearing her in coffee shops all the time.

Thinking how part of the fun of this phenomenon is that the album has been out a long time, so individual songs don't feel like singles but instead have equal presence out there.

She's good but I gotta say, I started listening to this, listened to it a lot for two weeks, then ran out of interest in it and haven't listened to it since. But it's good! Just... not with staying power for me.

Went to see Katie Pruitt last week and she did an acoustic cover of "Casual" that successfully lodged that tune in my head for three days straight.

similar to when this was happening with “espresso,” i think when a song/artist experiences a lot of growth in a short amount of time, spotify is set up to assume this will be of interest to most of their users and therefore it gets recommended liberally https://t.co/76GxtcpWo0 pic.twitter.com/qyRApPrukf

— jaime brooks ☭ (@elite_gz) June 7, 2024

lots of requests for chappell roan at the gay bar lately so i hear

people who use spotify live inside a little spotify created bubble that the rest of us exist outside of, and it distorts their understanding of the world around them. imo

i for one am shocked that spotify is recommending sabrina carpenter and chappell roan to listeners who enjoy pop music

xpost 100%. for an increasing number of people, there is basically no music outside Spotify, imo.

which sucks real bad.

"good luck, babe" is the first thing from her that isn't really annoying

I think people habitually underestimate the power of social media when discussing these phenomena. If you move in any kind of sub-50-yr-old queer-ish circles online it is basically impossible to avoid suffocation under an avalanche of Chappell Roan references. This seemed to start about a month ago.

It's difficult to untangle cause and effect here - did Spotify's algorithmic amplification effect precede or follow the above? Almost certainly they feed on each other. But in an era when traditional music journalism manages less than ever, I think a lot of the void that has left has been filled by people deciding what to check out because of the "conversations" they see happening around them online and a desire to be able to at least understand if not join in.

In this specific case an Australian parody IG page modelled on the Onion published a story a few days ago which both reflects the above and ironically adds to it: "Local Lesbian Has Her Subaru Keys Revoked After Revealing She Doesn't Know Who Chappell Roan Is".

*In an era when traditional music journalism matters less than ever

I would argue that social media and especially vertical content platforms (tiktok, reels) are driving what new acts and artists are breaking now. Spotify is definitely the tail of the dog at this point. Labels compete in digital marketing on those platforms, playlisting is kind of cheugy when you're talking about discovering new acts, lol

In this specific case an Australian parody IG page modelled on the Onion published a story a few days ago which both reflects the above and ironically adds to it: "Local Lesbian Has Her Subaru Keys Revoked After Revealing She Doesn't Know Who Chappell Roan Is".

Meanwhile, Hard Times (the punk-rock Onion) just did "Man To Be Honored at GLAAD Awards for Giving Bisexual Girlfriend a Ride to Chappell Roan Concert."

When Azealia's right...

I dunno, i feel like lots of female artists really wanna do this weird Lolita shit well into their 50/s and she sings like a WOMAN. That’s what i appreciate the most. The truth and reality in her neeeeeed to express. And how cathartic it is.

— Azealia Banks (@CHEAPYXOMIAMI) June 22, 2024

I saw buzz about the album somewhere or other late last year, listened to it and liked it a lot (still do). I was surprised at the time that there wasn't MORE buzz about her, because she seemed pretty buzzable. I think festival season was primed for her, she'd built up a good following and she rocked those shows. Her Bonnaroo set got moved up to the 2nd-biggest stage, probably on the basis of the Coachella buzz plus whatever LiveNation was gleaning from users on the festival app. As with anyone who blows up, I don't think it's any one thing pushing her, it's mostly that she made a good pop album that is in line with the tastes of the moment — smile, Dan Nigro! — and she's spent the last year building audiences on the road. Opening for Olivia Rodrigo no doubt helped.

But yeah, I did just see a Facebook friend in her 40s asking "who the hell is Chappell Roan and am I a bad lesbian for not knowing?"

She's insanely charismatic and her songs are brilliant. Feels like the most deserving Huge Popstar Blowup in a long time.

Her NPR Tiny Desk was my first exposure to her, it’s an incredible performance and I immediately understood why she was a star. Listening to the album after was slightly disappointing - I mean the songs are great, but something about the production didn’t quite click for me. “Good luck, babe!” is excellent though

My wife is a very casual music fan in general, but recently she's been getting kind of obsessed with individual artists, and Chappell Roan is the latest.

(Before that, it was Taylor.)

She talked about this when she was on Fallon, but it's pretty funny that some fan inside Google made it do this in the "Did you mean" line.

https://i.imgur.com/gts393u.png

"some random twink that works at Google" as she put it lol

I haven't paid attention to any pop for the last 20 years, but recently became a taylor swift fan. Then I randomly heard good luck babe and thought it was phenomenal, the album ain't half bad either.

"Good Luck Babe" doesn't have the same kind of charisma as the best tracks on the album in my view

"Good Luck Babe" is quite the earworm, caught me more than "Red Wine Supernova" (which was also good). I should check out the album

maybe 200 20-somethings at the gay bar singing "good luck babe" at the top of their lungs last saturday night.

I'm genuinely surprised y'all embrace her! She's fine. I'm figuring out what about her voice bothers me.

Current 20-somethings were pre-teens when Katy Perry's singles were omnipresent. I feel like Roan's big numbers play into that nostalgia while making the lyrics young-and-single-adult. The album deepens from there with "Coffee" and other non-anthems.

oh my god lol. how can i even describe it. i feel like you either hear it or you don't. there's a sour confidence that offsets the purest of feeling. there's a yelpiness and then grade-a organic midwestern honey. her tone when she's at her most direct, yearning and heartfelt just melts my armor away. carly rae jepsen would kill for this kind of voice. that probably does a disservice to crj. i just mean that crj, her thing, it could have been huge if she had this kind of voice.

there's also an incredibly refreshing honesty in the drive of her heart through the lyrics. (is she writing these songs or does she have help, i genuinely don't know?). like, she isn't dumb, but she knows what she wants and it's l o v e. worldliness is a part of that but it isn't all of it. uncompromising. the feeling when all these kids are singing along to it warms my heart. it's a wholesome moment. you either feel it or you're soulless (j/k ;)).

xp as far as i can tell, at least from the 3 big songs, there's something less cookie cutter about her "american girl" persona than perry. she's like "american girl" post billie eilish or something. the american girl persona just feels more natural somehow. i hope she doesn't succumb to being another katy perry, that would suck.

oh, she's more convincing than Perry.

Thanks, map. I'll give the album another try. I do hear the worldliness.

tbh i didn't really get what the fuss was all about until i heard all of those kids singing it.

i feel like there's also a kind of "fartiness" to the production on the songs, like a brown plastic sound (sorry for the gross metaphor), it seems to communicate that she doesn't want to be seen that she takes herself too seriously. i noticed the same style in the sabrina carpenter songs.

I don't know if this holds water, but thinking again of 20-somethings growing up on Kidz Bop versions of pop songs, with their chintzier production, and playing a bit into that nostalgia (unbridled kid-like singalongs, but also as Azaelia said, songs about being a woman, not a girl).

Oh, well if there's a fartiness to this, I guess I'll go check it out.

Chappell Roan is expected to chart five singles on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 (dated July 6th, 2024), all at new peaks:

#11. (+5) Good Luck, Babe!
#38. (+17) Hot To Go!
#46. (+8) Red Wine Supernova
#66. (+24) Pink Pony Club
#83. (NEW) Casual pic.twitter.com/70qmjvBafv

— Talk of the Charts (@talkofthecharts) June 30, 2024

The production is the only weak point to me, tho its datedness makes it feel kind of relatably affordable or something… the Midwest adopting like an old idea of mainstreamed indie, idk. But she’s a huge talent / persona / force of nature, her star& vision makes the production feel like it’s struggling keep up with her like she just wills these aspiring 2008 Robyn sounds into good-enough canvasses …. Imho

xp was thinking primadonna too!

waterlogged by various direct lifts that they had to re-steer midway to avoid infringement.

Banned in Rio!

https://www.mensjournal.com/news/rio-mayor-bans-chappell-roan-from-major-event

I don't have any particular opinion about this story, it sounds like she was maybe a jerk but also the only reason anyone heard about it is that it's some other celebrities' kid. Pop star stiffs nepo baby, whatever I'm sure everyone will survive.

there's story after story like this about her.

yeah ... i love the album and support her right to stand up for herself and speak her mind, obviously, but ... she just seems like she's an asshole.

Eh, she deserves to be off the clock when she's off the clock.

I mean, I agree with that. But she sure does seem like she seeks out opportunities to scold/belittle people, and she seems to enjoy doing so.

lol she was the one gushing about Brigitte Bardot just a month ago

she sure does seem like she seeks out opportunities to scold/belittle people, and she seems to enjoy doing so.

one of this board's favorite examples.

According to Roan she was unaware of the incident and the guard was not part of her security team. Which, if true, would probably mean he worked for hotel. Still, I’m sure her team sets the tone for how hotels/venues deal with these kind of situations.

I don't know how much I would expect an 11-year-old to be entirely accurate in their reporting of why they got into trouble from a security guard. Meanwhile the internet trips over itself to see her #cancelled for enforcing strict boundaries about her personal life a bit too staunchly while men like Chris Brown assault women consequence-free

an 11-year old isn’t a “nepo baby,” it is literally just a child

She is a nepo baby in the sense that she was staying at the same hotel as Chappell Roan, because she and her family are rich. The encounter/non-encounter wouldn't have happened, much less been turned into a national incident in Brazil, except for her very famous stepdad. I'm not blaming her, she's just a kid and sounds like she did nothing wrong. But the entire scenario transpired in a privileged space.

close friend's twin sister served roan at a boutique in manhattan right before she blew up. said she was an asshole fwiw.

xpost The only thing that tells me is that there are a lot of stories we haven’t heard, because they don’t involve Jude Law’s daughter.

She does give off an asshole vibe, which is cool if you want to be Lou Reed maybe, but seems an odd fit for a pop star.

This fiasco is a nothingburger. Jorginho didn't bother to figure out who the guard was but also assumes that even if it was her guy that she's capable of proactively policing everyone's behavior.

Security guards are unfortunately often troublemakers because many of them apply for the job because they can't pass the psych evaluation to be a cop or got fired from being a cop

Also she nonetheless apologized and understood why that aggressive behavior would upset anybody, much less a child

clearly some nepotism at work w/her being there with her parents. of all the qualified 11yo kids out there who could stay with her parents at that hotel, we're supposed to believe they just happened to pick their own daughter?

I suppose this is where reputation comes into play. If this story had been about, say, Sabrina Carpenter it would have felt far-fetched. Yet because it was about Roan it’s like yeah that sounds like her.

who bloody cares, let her scold whomever she pleaes

Anyway let's just have the guard flogged and we'll call it square

"Call me flogged, not pretty..."

an 11-year old isn’t a “nepo baby,” it is literally just a child

otm! fucking insane comments itt about this child

I mean it was just tipsy

She does give off an asshole vibe, which is cool if you want to be Lou Reed maybe, but seems an odd fit for a pop star.

God forbid a diva is a diva

Insane comments like we never would have heard about this if she wasn't a famous person's kid staying at a rich person's hotel? That's literally just describing the situation, it's not a judgment on her personal virtues. Nothing against her — or Chappell Roan either. I only posted it because of the blustery reaction from the Rio mayor. My actual comment was, "I'm sure everyone will survive," which I continue to believe.

so nepo just means "has a famous parent" now right?

i would like to retire the word “diva” and it’s use as an excuse for being a dick. I loved Lou Reed but I won’t excuse his being a huge asshole

Nepo baby = "Has privileges they wouldn't have without a rich/famous parent" I'd say. But ymmv. I said it tongue in cheek, did not anticipate blowback. But maybe that's in keeping with the Chappell Roan thread lol.

No, you can have famous parents, but you’re not a “nepo baby” until you try to go into an industry related to fame. If you do something else with your life you’re just a wealthy person.

Nepo-baby-in-waiting then. Nepotential!

Anyway.

#onethread

Nepoanderthal

I fully admit this is like 87% projection on my part and I don't even know that much about her but she does give me a little bit of a vibe of people I've known IRL who are constantly in the middle of drama that's never "their fault" technically but they sure do manage to find themselves in the middle of it on a regular basis.

I mean she wrote songs called "Red Wine Supernova" and "Naked in Manhattan"

the pearl clutching over this whole situation is just bizarre when...she wasn't doing anything other than eating her breakfast! the scolding security guard wasn't even her own security guard! but it's chappell roan, people are incapable of being normal about her it seems

I suspect posters were bored, it's Sunday

you kinda know she's a star when there are 40 new posts about this here on a weekend.

who are constantly in the middle of drama that's never "their fault" technically

maybe idk. i think she's legit just a big dick with a lot of talent.

the pearl clutching over this whole situation is just bizarre when...she wasn't doing anything other than eating her breakfast! the scolding security guard wasn't even her own security guard! but it's chappell roan, people are incapable of being normal about her it seems

this does not seem to have been clear from the original incident, like it wouldn’t really make sense for a random security guard to get involved

The girl’s mother says the security guard was with Roan and did not work for the hotel.

How would she know?

It's also lol that mayor of Rio said Shakira would never do something like this when many of her ex-employees in recent years have leaked that she's a toxic employer.

Because she saw the guy come over from Roan’s group.

But sure, maybe it’s more plausible that some random off duty security guard came over to tell her she doing a bad job raising her kid

But threatening her that he going to report her daughter to the hotel is probably a sign that he didn’t work for the hotel.

I don't think anyone was suggesting that he was random or off duty, but just not part of her ordinary personal security team. I.e. someone employed locally for her time there.

Well, Roan definitely tried to make it sound like the guy didn’t work for her.

https://theonion.com/chappell-roan-makes-amends-by-kidnapping-11-year-old-fan/