FEATURE: Spotlight: Chappell Roan — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Chappell Roan

_________

I know I am highlighting…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Clemens

a lot of American artists at the moment. I will focus on other nations soon but, as there is so much talent coming out of the U.S., I cannot ignore the likes of Chappell Roan. Her is an exceptional singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Someone who describes her music as dark Pop with ballad undertones, I think Roan is going to go a long way. Maybe not the most opportune period but, in summer 2020, she released the track, Pink Pony Club. One of the songs of that summer, Chappell Roan is now an independent artist. I know there will be big labels out there bidding for her. I wonder whether Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records label. Maybe that match will happen! As Roan released quite a bit of music last year, I suspect an album or E.P. will arrive soon. She is one of the most impressive young artists out there. I want to source a few interviews so that we better know a wonderful artist. Illustrate Magazine asked Chappell Roan about her musical upbringings and what the key elements of her music are:

“Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

Chappell Roan: I took piano lessons for a few years, but refused to learn theory because it was boring and learned by ear and copying my piano teachers hands. I also took vocal lessons for a couple years, but not classically. She taught me how to really belt and sing with confidence. It was more of a pop approach to vocal lessons.

Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘Chappell Roan’?

Chappell Roan: My strongest influence is definitely 80’s synth pop. I love weird sounds. I love dance and anthemic pop. Queen and Madonna Vibes. But, my biggest idol is definitely Alanis Morisette. She’s so so amazing. Everything about her I love.

As for my name, Chappell was my grandfather’s last name. I told him I would be Cahppell in his honor because we both knew he wouldn’t make it to see my career because of his brain cancer. His favorite song was “The Strawberry Roan” which is this old country wester song about a pinkish horse. It took me YEARS to find a last name, but Chappell was always 100%.

What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

Chappell Roan: Queerness, acceptance, nostalgia, and sparkle.

I always describe my music as slumber party pop, because it’s fun and anthemic, but also heavy and somber at times. Just like when you’re all lying there talking.

For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?

Chappell Roan: I definitely wanted to imitate the witchiness of Stevie Nicks and Lorde in my first EP “School Nights”. I was also just in a much darker spot in my life. Now, I’m in a much better place and I want to write pop and party on stage.

What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

Chappell Roan: I think you should use music and say whatever you want to say. Regardless if it’ll ruffle some feathers. I definitely try to approach sex in a positive open way in my music, and queerness. I don’t mind making listeners uncomfortable. I’m definitely not a technical artist haha. I just like singing fun pop songs and creating different aesthetics and makeup and outfits to go along with them. It’s like playing dress-up and arts and crafts”.

Rolling Stone profiled and interviewed an amazing artist who left her home for Los Angeles, one assumes, to make it big in music. Although that will happen, there were setbacks along the way. Her incredible talent, vision and perseverance will turn her dreams into a reality very soon:

“WHEN RISING POP star Chappell Roan left Missouri for Los Angeles, she thought she hit the jackpot.

Born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in the town of Willard, Missouri, she’d grown up feeling stifled by her small, conservatively Christian upbringing.

“I felt so out of place in my hometown,” the now-24-year-old recalls. “I wish it was better. I wish I had better things to say. But mentally, I had a really tough time.”

Discovering the likes of Katy Perry and other pop heavyweights of the 2010s opened up her worldview and inspired her to start writing songs of her own. She quickly caught the attention of major labels and was signed to Atlantic Records when she was 17, choosing a stage name inspired by her late grandfather (Dennis K. Chappell) and his favorite song (“The Strawberry Roan”).

“I had no idea what was going on and neither did my parents or my parents’ friends. It was so messy… I felt very unprepared. I didn’t know the consequences of how much I had to sacrifice. I didn’t do my senior year. I didn’t go to prom. I didn’t go to graduation. I missed a lot of what would have been the end of my childhood to do this job,” she says.

Up until she released her debut EP School Nights in 2017, Roan’s supportive parents would fly with their teen daughter back and forth from Missouri to LA or New York. Eventually, Roan flew the coop on her own, moving to LA in 2018. In LA, she discovered a new, free life as well as a second shot at adolescence. She was able to dress how she wanted without fear of standing out in the wrong ways. And she was able to live out and proud as a queer woman, for the first time in her life: “I feel allowed to be who I want to be here. That changed everything.”

After moving to the west coast, Roan started meeting with new producers and songwriters. One of them was Dan Nigro, the former lead singer of indie rock group As Tall As Lions who re-emerged in 2011 as a brilliant, edgy pop writer and producer with credits on albums like Sky Ferreira’s Night Time, My Time and Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion.

“I am really picky when it comes to writers,” Roan admits. “I like it when people push me and tell me that my lyrics or the performance is not good enough. That’s not really the case for most co-writers out here that I’ve worked with. Until I met Dan.”

They translated Roan’s L.A. puppy love into the neon bright “Pink Pony Club,” a slice of pop fantasia about wanting to be a go-go dancer at famed West Hollywood gay club The Abbey. The song was released in spring 2020, as the world was shutting down, making it increasingly more difficult for new artists to build their audiences without an immediate viral moment. “Pink Pony Club” gained some traction and attention, but not enough for Roan to be a profitable addition to her label, who dropped her in 2020.

“I burst into tears,” Roan says. She was fond of her team but understood that her project wasn’t making much money. “As time has gone on, I realized that no matter how hard that label experience was for five years, it was the biggest blessing ever. And being independent has taught me I can do it by myself”.

I am going to move onto an interview from Earmilk. They revolved their interview around the sensational Chappell Roan song, Femininomenon. It is an anthem and wonderful cut that seems to be her most personal and confident song yet. As she says, it is the song she has been trying to make her whole career:

“Her new song "Femininomenon" is a mouthful, and the production reflects that chaos. Starting off with the roar of a dirt bike in the background, the song somehow goes in a million different ways but fits together so well. The little voice notes before the chorus hits when Chappell cheekily screams, "Can someone give me a fucking beat." It's all so fun and loud but so intricate.

"I've been dreaming of releasing a song like this my whole career. It took years to build up the confidence to even sing in that style," Roan tells me. She worked with her trusted producer Dan Nigro, writing sections of the song on different days, putting it together like a puzzle. Even though this song feels like a completely new direction from her previously released music, it still has that thread that ties it all together into what she describes as a "slumber party pop world."

"I always try to push myself and how I write pop music. I want to see if I can get away with being as ridiculous as I possibly can," she says, "I wanted a dance song. Something people could do drag to. A Queer anthem that had a sad undertone of what really happened to me, but with a beat." Roan is truly a master at turning something heartbreaking into a shimmering pop song, it's the reason her music resonates with so many people

For an independent artist, visuals are one of the first ways to draw in an audience, and Roan knows her audience and sets the stage perfectly. "It's definitely a character and a performance piece," she says, "I'm pretty particular about everything because I want it to be cohesive and believable." She plans everything in her costumes and videos down to the last rhinestone. Having a hand in all aspects of her career helps her perfectly curate that image”.

I want to end with a Billboard interview from the end of last year. It was a chance for Chappell Roan to reflect on a very busy but successful year. I don’t know what her expectations were heading into 2022, but she has achieved soi much and set herself aside as an artist who will conquer the music world. Everyone needs to follow her:

“Unencumbered by label expectations, the singer-songwriter finally began bringing her full creative vision to fruition in 2022. The first step, as she tells it, was nailing her presentation: Gone was an attempt at presenting a clean-cut facade, now replaced by a more effortless deconstruction of style. “Once I let go of trying to be this very well-managed, put-together pop girl, it felt like everything just fell into place,” Roan explains. “I leaned into the fact that my looks were tacky, and very obviously using fake diamonds and Gucci knockoffs. I leaned into my queerness for the first time. When I did that, the songs got easier to write, the shows got easier to design, and my aesthetic was finally there.”

While putting together a rapid-fire rollout schedule of singles throughout the year (including “Naked in Manhattan,” “My Kink Is Karma” and “Femininomenon”), Roan quickly began accruing a fiercely loyal following on TikTok. According to Roan, while she was promoting the release of “Naked in Manhattan” in January 2022, she gained over 30,000 followers in one month, with fans anxiously wondering when the song would come out.

Roan doesn’t see herself as a “TikTok artist” — not necessarily due to fears of pigeonholing, but rather out of a healthy dose of skepticism. “I go so back and forth with TikTok,” she says. “I gained a lot of speed at the beginning of the year with TikTok because I wasn’t busy; I had time to post twice a day, go live once a day, repeat. It doesn’t work when you’re busy.”

The singer knows that because she has, in fact, been busy — along with unveiling her new set of singles, Roan filled the latter half of her year with plenty of touring. After opening for Olivia Rodrigo in May at her San Francisco Sour Tour stop, Roan caught the attention of fellow queer singer-songwriter Fletcher, who offered Roan the opening spot on the second half of her Girl of My Dreams Tour. Embarking on 10 dates with Fletcher, Roan honed her live show in real time while her song “Casual” began to pick up steam online.

“I don’t even know what I discovered, besides the fact that this is incredibly hard,” Roan says with a laugh, looking back on her time opening for Fletcher. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the live show is where the heartbeat of the project is. Luckily, it’s my favorite part of what I do — I like touring, but a lot of people hate it because it’s horrible and hard.”

The singer likes touring enough that she’s embarking on her own headlining tour in 2023. Spanning 20 dates through February and March, Roan will be traveling coast to coast with an ambitious performance goal — every show, she says, will be themed. “It’s already really hard to do that on an independent budget — but also coming up with that many different themes is insanely hard,” she says. “But, if the live show rocks, then everything else will trickle down.”

It’s also important to her to create a show worthy of the very queer fan base she’s garnered — that means making tickets affordable (“College kids don’t have money!” she says with a giggle), keeping her concert spaces safe and donating $1 of every ticket sold to For the Gworls, a Black, trans-led organization dedicated to helping Black trans people pay for their rent and gender-affirming care. “If I can create a space where people can afford to come into a mostly queer space, and dress up and feel good and meet other queer people in a town where maybe there’s not a lot of other places to meet queer people — aka my hometown — then that is great,” she says”.

With much more music arriving this year from the jaw-dropping Chappell Roan, it just shows what exciting, hugely inventive and strong artists are out there! I have been spotlighting a few, but the scene is so busy and varied. It is an amazingly inspiring time for music. Among the sea of great new artists, Chappell Roan surely ranks…