Meet Gen Z’s Madonna: Pop’s new superstar Chappell Roan speaks out about ‘overtly sexual’ songs

How did an oddball pop song versed in queer theory get on the Billboard Hot 100? Specifically, how did Chappell Roan, a rising lesbian pop star, get on the Hot 100 for the first time and break the “gay famous” ceiling (as SNL puts it) seemingly preventing likeminded acts MUNA and Girl in Red from crossing over to the main chart?

She also intentionally dictates how her community should engage—for example, by suggesting “themes” for different tour dates to bring the fanbase together. She both expresses herself and pulls self-expression out of her fans.

Chappell Roan is one of the most interesting new celebrities to study because she embodies so much of what the younger gener... See more

What set Roan apart was how unapologetically fun and silly her music was; there’s not another pop musician right now on any level of fame that will open an album with a song called “Femininomenon” and include the line “get it hot like Papa John” in the chorus. Her lyrics were frank about her sexuality, particularly in a viral line from Midwest Prin... See more

We are now entering the Hannah Montana Generation of pop stars: young artists who are not just evoking the frilly and bold aesthetic and unapologetically sugary sweet music of the show but also the type of larger-than-life persona Montana had in comparison to “real-life” Stewart. Carpenter is the prime example of leaning into the Hannah Montana-ifi... See more

To understand how we got here, it’s important to know Roan’s perilous journey, encompassing all big three major labels. Born in Missouri and raised in a conservative Christian household, she was signed to Warner’s Atlantic Records and positioned as the next Lorde after a video of her 2017 single “Die Young” went viral, and moved to L.A. to pursue h... See more

There’s a lot to learn from Roan’s success. She didn’t pander to TikTok or get lucky on Spotify algorithms (though TikTok obviously played a role), she just had a label that knew how to use her and a live show that sparked genuine word-of-mouth. The hardest part of the music industry at all levels is getting people to care about your music, and Roa... See more

Rogers was one of the first pop stars to achieve fame by unintentionally captivating the Internet, and, strangely, she was also one of the last. These days, virality is not so much a lightning strike as a marketing scheme, reverse engineered by executives and masquerading as serendipity. A. & R. representatives often scout new talent by dissect... See more