Chappell Roan

Early life

Kayleigh Rose Amstutz was born on February 19, 1998, in Willard, Missouri, the oldest of four children. Her mother, Kara (née Chappell), is a veterinarian; her father, Dwight Amstutz, is a retired Naval Reservist who also managed the family's veterinary practice in Springfield, and previously trained as a registered nurse, working in neurological and burn intensive care units. Her uncle is Darin Chappell, a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives.

Roan has described her hometown and upbringing as conservative and Christian. During her childhood, she attended church three times a week and spent several summers at Christian camps. In a 2023 Variety interview, she said she struggled with her upbringing and often snuck out, explaining: "I just wanted to feel like a good person, but I had this part of me that wanted to escape so bad."

Roan began playing piano when she was ten or eleven years old and started taking lessons at the age of twelve. She performed publicly for the first time at the age of thirteen, singing "The Christmas Song" at her school's talent show, which she won. When she was about fourteen, she auditioned for America's Got Talent without success. At fourteen or fifteen, she began uploading cover songs to YouTube, drawing attention from several record labels. She also began writing her own songs as she entered her teenage years, uploading those to YouTube as well. Alongside her online presence, she performed around her hometown and in Springfield from 2012 to 2015. She graduated a year early from Willard High School. Roan has said she missed many typical childhood experiences during the "messy" early years of her music career, including her prom and high school graduation.

Career

2014–2022: Career beginnings

In November 2014, Roan uploaded her original song "Die Young" to YouTube under the name Kayleigh Rose. She wrote the song while attending summer camp at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, which she said "changed my trajectory forever". She later traveled to New York for several musical showcases, leading to her signing with Atlantic Records in May 2015. In 2016, she adopted the stage name Chappell Roan in honor of her grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer that same year. The name combines her grandfather's surname with a word taken from his favorite song, "The Strawberry Roan" by Curley Fletcher. She has also expressed dislike for her birth name.

On August 3, 2017, Roan released her first single, "Good Hurt". Interview reviewed the song favorably, praising her "striking maturity and surprisingly deep vocals". On September 22, 2017, she released her debut extended play (EP), School Nights, through Atlantic. Also in 2017, she supported Vance Joy on his Lay It On Me Tour. During this period, Roan lived with her parents in Springfield, flying with them to Los Angeles or New York City when needed. In 2018, she moved to Los Angeles. She has since said this was the first time she felt able to live openly as a queer woman, and that she felt "overwhelmed with complete love and acceptance", which allowed her to begin "writing songs as the real [her]". From January to March 2018, she toured the United States with Declan McKenna.

Roan began working with songwriter and producer Dan Nigro in late 2018. In April 2020, she released "Pink Pony Club", which she described as a "hard left turn" from School Nights. The single was produced by Nigro, and its music video was directed by Griffin Stoddard. Roan has cited a visit to The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood, as the inspiration for the song. She said the track expressed her desire to become a go-go dancer in Los Angeles, stating, "truthfully, I'm not confident enough to do that, so I wrote a song about it."

Roan released two additional singles, "Love Me Anyway" and "California", in May 2020. However, her releases were not profitable enough for Atlantic, which dropped her from the label in August 2020. Shortly afterward, Roan returned to Los Angeles in October 2020 to continue working on her music independently while holding a series of odd jobs, including as a production assistant and at a donut shop. That December, USA Today ranked "Pink Pony Club" third on its list of the "10 best songs of 2020", describing it as dance-pop that "earnestly [celebrates] queer culture, acceptance and chasing your dreams". A year after its release, Vulture called "Pink Pony Club" the "Song of Summer 2021", describing it as a "synthy infectious bangarang". By August 2022, the song had been streamed more than 10 million times on Spotify. In early 2021, the success of Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License" shifted Nigro's focus away from Roan as he worked on Sour with Rodrigo. Roan was unable to find another collaborator she liked as much. She briefly moved back to Missouri and worked at a drive-through while continuing to write music independently.

2023–present: Breakthrough with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

In February 2023, Roan embarked on the Naked in North America Tour, her debut headlining tour. Each stop on the tour had a theme, with Roan suggesting outfits for fans while making her own camp costumes herself. Inspired by Orville Peck, Roan chose to book drag queens as openers for the tour. Concerts from the tour received positive reviews in The Harvard Crimson and Variety, with Jem Aswad describing it as a concert where "you recognize when a new-ish artist's career is about to blast off" similar to Lorde in 2013 and Billie Eilish in 2019.

In March 2023, Roan released the music video for "Casual". The song, produced by Nigro, criticizes a romantic partner who refuses to commit and was inspired by Roan's brief relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic that ended with her partner saying they had met someone else. That same month, Roan signed with Amusement Records, a label created by Nigro expressly for Roan. To provide major label support, Roan also co-signed with Island Records, after seeking out 9 different potential partners. Later that year, she released the singles "Kaleidoscope", "Red Wine Supernova" and "Hot to Go!".

On September 22, 2023, Roan released her debut full-length album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and began her second headlining tour, the Midwest Princess Tour. The tour, ending in the spring of 2024, traveled across North America and had shows in London, Paris, Berlin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, and Amsterdam. Roan donated $1 per ticket sold to the nonprofit For the Gworls and opened each show with drag performers. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was included in various best-albums-of-2023 year-end lists, such as those by The A.V. Club, Time, Nylon, Dork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Vogue. It was also listed as one of Pitchfork's 22 Best Pop Albums of 2023 and was named PopBuzz's Number One Album of 2023.

Roan opened for Olivia Rodrigo's Guts World Tour in the United States and Canada from February to April 2024. In Roan's first week of the tour, her streams rose by 32 percent. Also in February, Roan was a musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In March, NPR Music released Roan's Tiny Desk Concert performance.

In April 2024, Roan released the single "Good Luck, Babe!". The song speaks about compulsory heterosexuality, describing a woman trying to deny her romantic feelings for Roan and women in general. Praised by Billboard as a "well-deserved breakthrough", the song received 7 million streams in its first week, was listed in the Spotify top ten, and debuted at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Roan's fastest to hit 100 million streams on the platform. By June, the song became her first top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and by September, it reached a peak of number four, becoming her first top ten song on the chart. Although not included on her debut album, the single's success was a catalyst for propelling it to worldwide recognition. In June 2024, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess entered the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time, with more than 40,000 equivalent album units sold. By August, the album had reached number two.

Artistry

Roan writes most of her songs with co-writers, most prominently her producer, Dan Nigro, with her song "Kaleidoscope" being the only song from her debut album written solely by Roan herself. After the release of her debut single, "Good Hurt", her style was described in Interview as "pop sound [...] infused with a dark and unsettling tone that underscores her intense, somber lyrics." In 2018, she described her musical style as a mix of organic and electronic sounds, with a pop tone, and as "dark pop with ballad undertones". In her songs written while she was a teenager, according to Atwood Magazine, she "brought the hardship and turbulence of our teenaged years to life with a candidness and vividness seldom seen from her peers." Roan describes her music as "kind of the fairytale version of what happened in real life" as her persona is a larger-than-life version of her real self. Roan's music has been described as pop, dance-pop, synth-pop, art pop, alternative pop, indie pop, disco, and pop rock.

Voice

Roan has received praise for her vocal abilities since her early days. In 2014, Troye Sivan and Connor Franta commended the then-16-year-old Roan's singing. Sivan said that he had not heard a voice like Roan's since Adele, and Franta called her a "vocally gifted goddess". Despite this, Roan has criticized her past singing, saying that she never had a "proper" vocal lesson until December 2022 and that she had been "singing wrong" for 10 years. In a Vox feature, Constance Grady described Roan's vocal style in her early music as the "indie girl slur that was so popular at the time" and likened it to singing in cursive. She named "Pink Pony Club" as the song that marked the beginning of Roan's vocal evolution.

Roan has been described as having a soprano vocal range, and has demonstrated use of the whistle register on songs such as "After Midnight". Writing for the official Grammy Awards site, Kelly Nguyen lauded Roan's "near-perfect vocal stability". In a review of Roan's live show at Heaven, a gay club in London, Poppie Platt of The Daily Telegraph praised Roan's "soaring, pitch-perfect high notes", writing that each note "shudder[ed] with feeling".

Inspiration

Roan has cited Kate Bush as a prominent influence. She has named "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields as the "greatest" song she has ever heard in a podcast in 2022 while also being a major fan of the band's work. She has also cited inspirations including the artist Abbey Watkins, the film The Beguiled, and musical artists alt-J, Stevie Nicks, Ellie Goulding, Karen Carpenter, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey. In 2023, on an exclusive interview for Pop Crave, Roan stated that she listened to Lorde, Del Rey and Goulding throughout her entire high school years. She has stated that the song "Stay" by Rihanna inspired her to begin writing music. In 2023, a Variety article described Roan as "glammy and pop and embracing her femininity and [...] very queer-positive." Roan credited Madonna, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj as women who made queer music mainstream at the red carpet of the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. She has also cited Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj as inspiration for her attitude towards making people feel confident with her music. She cites Beyoncé as an influence for her stage presence. She spoke in admiration of Ariana Grande, calling herself "an Arianator". Discovering artists like Katy Perry, Kesha, Britney Spears, and Pink during her adolescence also influenced her to start writing music and construct her onstage persona. She stated she was raised on Christian rock during her childhood but never identified with it, instead having a curiosity about pop music. Roan is also a fan of the video game Old School RuneScape and its synth-heavy soundtrack.

Roan's makeup and hair is primarily inspired by drag makeup, including queens like Violet Chachki. Her makeup also takes inspiration from Boy George, 1980s punk fashion, and Vivienne Westwood. Roan described her makeup looks for the Coachella festival as "Paris Hilton and James St. James or Walt Cassidy became one and put on a drag show." She is also heavily inspired by the Club Kids scene. While on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Roan stated her stage looks reference horror movies, burlesque, and theater. She also described her outlook for her on-stage costumes, "I love looking pretty and scary. Or, like, pretty and tacky. Or just not pretty. I love that too. I just think it's just not serious, I love that fans find such deep meanings to things and I'm just like, 'I don't know, I thought I looked hot.' Like, I don't know if it's anything more than that." Roan considers herself a drag queen with her own persona, stating, "I've never fully understood why women shouldn't be allowed to do drag because – yes, I do drag! [...] It feels like they don't like women doing certain things. Another man trying to tell a woman what to do. Just try telling me what to do! I'm a drag queen – whether you like it when women do it or not."

Cultural impact

Roan's success has led her to be called a "queer pop icon", "a superstar in the making", and a "visionary performer". Roan has been credited with leading a "lesbian pop renaissance" on the music charts and within the cultural zeitgeist. Roan's music brought the concept of compulsory heterosexuality into the forefront of mainstream pop music. She has been praised for her "unapologetic authenticity" and "expression of her queerness and femininity" in her music and live performances, inspiring young women to embrace their own sexuality. She has also been applauded for her image "rejecting the male gaze" within the pop landscape. Roan has been praised for her "punkish" attitude towards the status quo for queer performers and applauded for "rewriting the rules of lovelorn pop". Rolling Stone described watching Roan's performances as "like watching Michelangelo craft the statue of David in real time".

In 2024, Roan gave a guest lecture at Harvard Medical School. When searching for Roan's name on Google, users are prompted with "Did you mean: your favorite artist's favorite artist", which references a viral clip of Roan introducing herself on stage at the Coachella Music Festival. This was inspired by Roan's favorite drag performer and now drag mother Sasha Colby. Roan joked the search term was caused by a "random twink who works at Google" and stated that she modified Colby's phrase as she hoped Colby would one day watch and recognize her. The two met in July 2024 while performing at Capitol Hill Block Party, where Colby asked Roan to join the House of Colby as her daughter.

In June 2024, Roan revealed she had declined an invitation from the White House to perform for that year's Pride celebration. During the Governors Ball Music Festival, Roan stated, "we want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that's when I'll come", mentioning the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and transgender rights. Roan later revealed that she considered attending, but instead of performing music, she would recite poetry by Palestinian women. Roan said that her publicist was supportive of the idea, but warned her that doing so at the White House would likely compromise her and her family's safety, which is why she decided to decline the invitation instead.

In August 2024, the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign released a baseball cap with the words "Harris Walz" in a similar style to Roan's "Midwest Princess" merchandise baseball cap. In response, Roan tweeted "is this real". Roan refused to endorse the Harris campaign but confirmed she would vote for Harris, stating that "endorsing and voting are completely different." Explaining the decision, she said, "Fuck Trump for fucking real, but fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you — and, more so, Palestine, and more so, every marginalized community in the world."

Public image

Confrontations with paparazzi

Roan has had numerous confrontations with the press and paparazzi during her career concerning her personal boundaries. These included incidents on the red carpet at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and at the Los Angeles premiere of Olivia Rodrigo's Guts concert film.

Interactions with her fanbase

Following her rapid commercial breakthrough, Roan publicly addressed the pressures of her newfound fame and criticized behavior from some fans that she considered "creepy" and "invasive". In multiple social media posts, she said she felt unsafe due to public harassment and stalking by fans, including attempts to contact members of her family.

In March 2026, while Roan was in Brazil to perform at Lollapalooza Brazil, soccer player Jorginho alleged that Roan's security detail spoke aggressively to his wife and his 11-year-old step-daughter at a hotel due to what was claimed to be the act of the child walking past Roan's table to confirm it was her. Roan stated that she was unaware of the incident, that the security guard involved was not her "personal security" and she did not see the mother and child. She also apologized to the mother and child for the situation's occurrence. The security guard later took full responsibility for the incident, stating that he was not part of Roan's team and was not directed by her to confront the family. Following the responses of Roan and the security guard involved, Jorginho publicly retracted his prior comments and condemned the hate speech targeted towards Roan in the aftermath of his initial statement, but did not issue an official apology towards her.

Personal life

Roan currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She is a lesbian. Though raised Christian, Roan no longer identifies with the church and said in 2023 that her relationship with religion is "evolving". She was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at age 22, an illness that contributed to her difficult childhood. She has described therapy and medication as important parts of maintaining her mental health. She has also been diagnosed with severe depression, a condition which she said worsened with her rise to fame.

Roan has said that the idea of her trademark "tacky pop star" aesthetic came to her while discussing her inner child with her therapist. While "Chappell Roan" began solely as a stage name, she has since referred to it as her drag persona and compared it to Hannah Montana, describing the character as "more open and confident [...] especially regarding sex" than her real self.

Discography

Studio albums

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023)

Filmography

Tours

Headlining

Naked in North America Tour (2023)

The Midwest Princess Tour (2023–2024)

Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour (2025–2026)

Supporting

Vance Joy – Lay It On Me Tour (2017)

Coast Modern – On Tour (2017)

Declan McKenna – What Do You Think About the Car? Tour (2018)

Olivia Rodrigo – Sour Tour (2022)

Ben Platt – The Reverie Tour (2022)

Fletcher – Girl of My Dreams Tour (2022)

Olivia Rodrigo – Guts World Tour (2024)