Over the last few months, Chappell Roan has been through it. The breakout star of 2024 has shared stories of intrusive fan behaviour, being stalked and expressed her anxiety about her newfound level of fame. “I’ve pumped the brakes on anything to make me more known,” she said during a podcast interview in July. “It’s kind of a forest fire right now.”
Slowing things down hasn’t meant retreating, however. In fact, when Roan skips on to the stage tonight, there’s little indication that she’s having anything other than the time of her life. Dressed in a bedazzled leotard adorned with a clamshell bust and a starfish on her rear (tonight’s show is mermaid-themed), she launches into the driving Femininomenon, jumping around the stage doing high-kicks.
Perhaps one thing helping Roan stay grounded is the simplicity of the staging. She could certainly pull off Gaga-level bombast, but aside from some nifty lighting there are no dancers or confetti cannons here. It feels DIY, like watching a local act or a low-budget take on Rocky Horror, and is all the better for it: Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl gets a thrashing makeover thanks to crunchy guitars, Roan whipping her long red hair like a lion, while My Kink Is Karma, delivered with a downpour of percussion, becomes an outright mosher. Even Hot to Go, with its viral YMCA-style dance routine, has a raw texture to it, as if Roan were fronting a punk band.
Roan’s affinity for pop, and the camp and artifice of drag, is evident. Picture You becomes a queer take on Aerosmith’s Crazy as she seduces a mic stand adorned with a green wig, and she embraces unashamed Kate Bush cosplay during the guttural bridge of Good Luck, Babe, throwing herself to the floor for extra dramatics.
Despite the characters she adopts, though, there’s an undeniable humanity to her on-stage persona. After seeing the impact this has on her fans, most dressed in under-the-sea inspired outfits, it’s understandable why she’d want to hold on to it for as long as possible.
“This is a place where you belong,” she says to the crowd. After watching this brilliant show, you hope she continues to feel the same.
