Undoubtedly, 2024 was the year Chappell Roan exploded. She’d released songs in 2017 and “Pink Pony Club” came out in 2020, followed by some little releases in 2022 and The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess in 2023 — which was Grammy-nominated in early 2024, around the time she started opening up for Olivia Rodrigo on the Guts tour. Between that and “Good Luck, Babe” coming out in April 2024, Roan turned into a phenomenon — or a femininomenon, to quote her song — drawing record crowds to outdoor music festivals, performing at the Grammys and Saturday Night Live, giving a guest lecture at Harvard Business School, and having Harris-Walz 2024 make merch in the style of her album title.
So what did all that look like for her? Well, it started with hooves, and then a snout. Then, it was stage-wear. The VMAs in September were the first major red carpet she walked and where she was hotly anticipated. She did have issues with fans not being able to draw appropriate boundaries, especially as regards her personal space and her family’s privacy, which, good for her for calling that out. She’s careful to describe her music as “my project” or something of that ilk, as if to try and keep a boundary between the character “Chappell Roan” and her actual self. Hopefully the fandom and the general public WILL cool it the f’ off, or else their favorite artist’s favorite artist might decide it’s not worth the trouble anymore. And that would be a huge loss. She writes bangers, and in the words of Wayne Campbell, she can WAIL.
