A Feminist Femininomenon: Chappell Roan

Kayleigh Amstutz, better known as Chappell Roan, has skyrocketed to popularity, and continues to use her ever-growing platform to speak out on issues, despite their controversy. She’s spoken out about queer rights and women’s rights often. 

Chappell Roan performing at one of her concerts.

She began playing at a young age, around 11-12. After an unsuccessful audition for America’s got Talent in her teens, she began uploading covers of popular songs, and sometimes her own original songs, onto her YouTube, which garnered her attention for record labels. Like other artists before gaining popularity, she often performed for small crowds in her hometown in conservative Missouri. After attending many musical showcases in New York City, Roan eventually signed with Atlantic Records, adopting the name of Chappell Roan in honor of her grandfather’s last name and his favorite song. She moved to Los Angeles in 2018, where she finally felt like she could be her authentic self as a queer woman, surrounded by other queer people and support. She opened for singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, and later on Olivia Rodrigo. 

Prior to opening for Rodrigo, Roan released “Pink Pony Club”, inspired by her desire to be a Los Angeles go-go dancer. However, following two unsuccessful singles, she was dropped from her record label. She had to resort to working other odd jobs to support herself while still pursuing her music on her own. She eventually got a deal with Sony, and could return to working with Dan Nigro with whom she wrote another single, “Naked in Manhattan”. In this song, she explorers her same-sex attraction. Following this single, she released another, “Femininimenon”, then “Casual”.

Roan and Rodriguez performing together at the Guts World Tour.

After the wild success of these singles, Chappel Roan announced her first tour, the Naked in North America Tour in 2023. That year also saw the release of incredibly successful singles “Red Wine Supernova” and “Hot to Go!”, the finally her first full length album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, named after a David Bowie’s “Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust”

Despite her success in 2023, her name only grew in popularity in 2024, opening for Olivia Rodrigo on her “Guts World Tour”. In the first week of the tour alone, Roan’s album sales went up 32%. The album sales weren’t the only thing growing exponentially-her monthly listeners went up 500% from February, the beginning of the Guts World Tour, to April. 

She’s especially spoken out about misogyny in the media, and how women in the music industry and the public eye are treated so differently from men in the same position.

“Women do not owe you a reason why they don't want to be touched or talked to“ -Chappell Roan

Chappell Roan proves that becoming an ‘overnight success’ actually takes years and years of struggling and hard work.