The "Feminomenon" That Is Chappell Roan

Your Favorite Artist's Favorite Artist

Nothing shows your age more than music knowledge or lack thereof. It’s the first thing to go. We can slather on a wrinkle cream and playfully work “rizz” into a conversation but keeping up with new artists is a young man’s game. Where would we even go to listen? Flipping around the radio used to be a great way to get your ear on something new. Now we’re either listening to a playlist of songs we already love or throwing a podcast on. Even if you have SiriusXM or Spotify you’re most likely searching for category of music that’s familiar. Now some of you have a teen who could, hypothetically, keep you current. But are they really going to pass the aux?

So as a part of your continuing education — we here at How To Be Less Old are dedicated to keeping you “in the know”.

(If you read it here and then see it in the wild, even one day later, we’ve done our job.)

Spotlight on Chappell Roan

Who is Chappell Roan?

Let’s start with some some simple facts to orient ourselves. Chappell is a 26 year-old, queer musician from Missouri who’s been heavily influenced by drag. She was discovered singing cover songs on YouTube.

At age 16, she wrote an original song “Die Young” and was signed to Atlantic Records and then dropped six years later.

Then in a very interesting turn of events she began working with grammy winning super producer - Daniel Nigro. He was so taken with the work he was doing with Chappell that he decided to create the record label Amusement Records in collaboration with Island Records. She is currently the only artist on Amusement. Chappell’s first album The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess was released September 2023 - it’s coming up on a year! The midwest is really having a moment 🥹

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In this little get-ready-with me video Chappell shares some fun-facts. Her real name is Kayleigh Rose and she took her first proper singing lesson this year.

Speaking of this year, 2024 has been a real banger for Roan. She’s had major back-to-back moments — NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert (love these) and Coachella. Please watch this Tiny Desk Concert ⬇️ and get to know Chappell. Absolutely love her voice.