Chappell Roan - Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess Album Reaction

Comments · 238

• JE

  @jenniferpeterson9233 · 1 year ago

  I love that your favorite song (kaleidoscope) is the only song she completely wrote and produced by herself.

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• JO

  @joymartin4640 · 1 year ago

  I was introduced to this album literally RIGHT BEFORE she blew up. Didnt think I'd care for it at all. Boy, was I wrong. One of the best debuts Ive ever heard.

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• JA

  @Jack_L · 1 year ago

  I think it's important to note that while Pink Pony Club wasn't lifechanging for you (a presumably a cishet man), it's incredibly likely that it did change the lives of a lot of queer people living in less accepting environments. Having said that, I do also believe that when people take the time to really understand the message of songs that aren't really "for them," those songs can often end up being more lifechanging than songs that would naturally exist within the echo-chamber of perspectives that people often find themselves in. So props to you for exploring outside your usual tastes and asking questions about the meaning of these songs.

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• CH

  @ChappellsDaughter · 1 year ago

  No self-control, me sees Chappell Roan, me clicks 🧌

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• TH

  @TheNeonRabbit · 1 year ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQcU8tkO2g4&amp;t=1042">17:22</a> You paused it in the middle of the best gag on the album then talked through it:<br>&quot;I heard you like magic, I&apos;ve got a Wand and a Rabbit&quot;.

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• BR

  @brienmiller1005 · 1 year ago (edited)

  You are right about the business. This album is an exception. Chappell and Dan did this outside the business after she was dropped. He created an imprint for her at Island. This album is a success despite the business. Even her new song &quot; The Subway&quot; gets little air play. <br><br>And she did fail. &quot;California&quot; was released right before Atlantic dropped her. Note by the way flipping the Mamas and the Pappas lyric &quot;all the leaves are brown&quot; to &quot; no leaves are brown.&quot; She was the kid set for stardom. At 16 her record deal was announced over the high school intercom. Imagine having to go home to small town America and face all those people. <br><br>Everything, costuming, makeup, videos were done with help from friends. &quot;PIcture You&quot; isn&apos;t &quot;Creep.&quot; It&apos;s Patsy Kline. The album was meant to be listened to as a whole, with the songs meant to be to be performed. That&apos;s why the call and response, breaking the 4th wall, etc. &quot;HOT TO GO&quot; was intentionally created by her to be her own &quot;YMCA&quot; concert dance. &nbsp;I could go on, but the point is that the level of intention, the pop music knowledge spanning decades is next level. Are the songs formulaic? Yes, but In the best way with changes in the verses, unexpected breaks. &quot;Feminomenon&quot; opens the album as a shot across the bow of the ship of crap that pop music has become. &nbsp;Some songs like, &quot;Red Wine Supernova ,&quot; took years and many rewrites to get right. &quot;Kaleidoscope&quot; on the other hand she wrote by herself in a day, although Dan ended up searching high and low for a piano that had the right tone for the song until he found one and bought it. &nbsp;She kicks ass in concert. And her vocal ability is next level. Do yourself a favor. Just sit and watch her Tiny Desk on your own.

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• SQ

  @squaretp · 1 year ago

  You would be blown away by her Tiny Desk. It&apos;s a serious show of her skill and charisma.

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• PU

  @Purple_pony_club · 1 year ago

  There is a lot of lore behind her song &quot;California&quot;. Before this album and subsequent blow up, she was picked up by Atlantic while still in high school and sang moody cursive pop for almost a decade before finding her new sound. Cali was written right after &quot;Pink Pony Club&quot; didn&apos;t do as well as her label preferred (kinda hard to be a club hit during lock down), and she was being dropped for lack of performance. At the same time, her long time boyfriend broke up with her, stranding her with no car in a city she could no longer afford. The song is a heartbroken plea for her family to take her back after her dreams are crushed. <br>She did, in fact, go back home and work part time jobs as a nanny and barista while putting out new songs independently with Dan Nigro, whom she met while under the label and instantly formed a strong friendship with. When they finally finished this album and put it out there, the modest success wasn&apos;t enough to keep her afloat, and she was about to quit music and go back to school before a combination of opening for Olivia Rodrigo and her Tiny Desk Concert suddenly catapulted her into a terrifying success. <br>(sorry if things are inaccurate or out of order. feel free to correct me)

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• GO

  @gotasintrospectivas · 1 year ago (edited)

  I think what resonated with me was the unapologetic queer Joy. That&apos;s why Pink Pony Club is a Queer anthem, and a grower for sure. It talks about leaving a conservative background and finding herself in a Queer club. There&apos;s a vídeo somewhere of a Choir singing It on a church. It gave me goosebumps, to see a Queer anthem in a place of historycal oppression. <br><br>Also, you should try Lady Gaga - Mayhem too. It&apos;s such a strong contender for AOTY, and such a well thought project. You Will love It.

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• AM

  @amourpsu · 1 year ago

  Re: Pink Pony Club - It is based on the Abbey in West Hollywood. She was enamored by the go-go dancers and wrote a song from their perspective.

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• JA

  @jabecker21 · 1 year ago

  I&apos;m a 53yo indie rock guy who discovered Chappell through her Tonight Show appearance, fell in love with her Tiny Desk, and became a huge fan. I maintain a Chappell Roan Chronological Timeline YT playlist that contains every video of hers I can find all in order so you can scroll through her entire career. I&apos;m going to see her for the first time in NY in a few weeks and cant wait.

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• RA

  @rabbitfishtv · 1 year ago (edited)

  (the following comment makes generalizations which I know are only partly true and vary case by case, but…) It’s really interesting watching a cis str8 guy, a self-described “classic rock and indie” guy seeing the quality in Chappell and just opening himself up to pop in general. Gay culture is kind of built around the loud and glittery and superficial, and finding the truth hiding in the artificial. Lots of theories I could come up with to explain it; one thing is that there is so much fear of not being “masculine enough,” especially among str8 men in our culture, &nbsp;of not being allowed any emotion that isn’t aggressive, that you can only like songs that are either dispassionate or furious. Whereas gays were rejected by that culture for not being “manly” enough, and often took as our examples of strength powerful divas who were already saying, “We won’t follow your cold anger, men.”<br><br>As a person who never fits snugly in any group, including among other gay men, I’ve always walked the line between enjoying camp and artificiality and being more like you, loving the sophisticated and the “real” in music. But they’re all just stances. They’re all just places where we feel safe. As Count Basey said, there’s only two kinds of music: good music and bad music.<br><br>I loved this album immediately when I heard it. It’s got brains, joy, sophistication, and stupid pleasure, all mixed up in spectacular writing and producing.

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