Chappell Roan packed her life up and moved from Springfield, Mo. to California. She wanted to break onto the L.A. scene, live out a superstar fantasy and make it big. But when she arrived in California, it wasn’t what she imagined.
Homesick, she sat down and wrote “California”, an ode to Missouri and Midwestern hospitality. She created the music video herself while she was in quarantine and it features her morose journey of self-discovery. The single rounded out her first batch of wildly successful releases.
“I questioned everything I knew the second I moved to California,” Roan explained to PM Studio. “It was terrifying because I felt very lost and alone. Although it was scary, I grew into a person I now love. I still struggle with feeling out of place and making friends in Los Angeles, but releasing music and knowing that I can help someone with my songs proves to me that I must keep pushing forward.”
“California” wasn’t Roan’s first rodeo. The star-studded cowgirl released “Pink Pony Club” at the height of COVID-19 anxieties. The track details a once-in-a-lifetime night at a gay club in downtown L.A. where she found herself. The song praises strippers, drag queens and queer women. Roan herself has been a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ+ community; she’s open on social media about her own exploration with sexuality as a midwesterner and young woman.
Her most recent release, “Naked in Manhattan,” continues the theme of “Pink Pony Club.” It’s a pop anthem about her first queer experience in New York. The lyrics, “Oh, I’ve never done it, let’s make it cinematic,” led NPR to deem the track “flirty, unbridled and playful.” It’s her return after two years of silence and she’s already teasing more music. (She’ll likely play it this summer while she opens for Conan Gray and Olivia Rodrigo in concert!) Keep an eye on Roan, because she isn’t going anywhere.