Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan are two of the biggest rising stars in pop music, and fans gather by the thousands to sing along to their hit songs. However, their connection runs a lot deeper than this common thread. Chappell Roan actually opened for Rodrigo on a number of occasions. Now, as the “Hot To Go!” singer’s fame continues to rise, the “good 4 u” singer is opening up about why she’s “magic.”
At the moment, there’s a lot of chatter surrounding Chappell Roan, her rise to fame and her opinions on how she interacts with fans. People adore her anthems like “Hot To Go!,” “Femininomenon,” “Good Luck Babe!” and more, and they flock to see her latest outfits, many of which are inspired by drag. While speaking with Rolling Stone, Rodrigo explained why she loves Roan so much, and the “magic” she has, explaining:
I remember her walking into the studio one day and just flat-out saying ‘I don’t give a fuck about what people say anymore. If I like it, then it’s good.’ I could tell she actually meant it, too. That’s her magic.
That really is her magic. Roan is transfixing on stage, as she dons elaborate costumes for many shows and reels in the audience with her commanding stage presence. She’s also gained a lot of attention for how she makes music and sees the industry. As Rodrigo said, Chappell Roan tries not to “give a fuck” about what other people want, she wants to like what she’s making, and that kind of mentality is refreshing.
It’s also worth noting that so far, throughout Rodrigo’s career, she’s been followed by a lot of both love and harsh rumors and speculation. With her first album, her love life and rumored relationship with one of her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-stars was the subject of lots of online chatter. Also, with her first single off GUTS, people wondered if her song “Vampire” was about Taylor Swift. So, she gets both the highs and lows of what her former opener is going through, which includes love for her music as well as both criticism and adoration for her outlook on fame and fan interactions.
For a bit of backstory, both Rodrigo and Roan have been rising in popularity exponentially in recent years. While the “Driver’s License” singer’s initial rise came a few years ago, GUTS has been a massive success, and she’s been selling out arenas. On said tour, and the one before that, Roan opened for Rodrigo.
According to Rolling Stone, in 2022, Chappell Roan opened for Olivia Rodrigo for the first time after they had become friends through Daniel Nigro, a singer and writer/producer. That first show was for 9,000 people in San Francisco, and it was part of Rodrigo’s Sour tour.
Then, near the end of 2022, after being dropped by her label earlier in her career, other labels were coming to her with new deals. But as Rodrigo said, Roan made sure she was getting what she wanted out of this. That was made clear as Chappell explained this situation with the following words:
Hell. I was like, ‘Give me a [pitch] deck on how you would market me. Give me a deck on what you would do with my career. What do you see in five years? If you can’t even do it in a hypothetical situation, you don’t know how to figure it out. I’m definitely not signing to your ass.
She ended up at Island via Amusement Records, and she has the artistic freedom she strives for and the funding to pull it off.
Then, in 2023 and early 2024, after Rodrigo released GUTS, Roan signed on to open for her again, and she played a string of shows during the first part of the year. After that, the “Red Wine Supernova” singer played Coachella, and things really started to change. That’s when the world started to take notice of that “magic” Rodrigo was talking about.
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♬ original sound – Olivia Rodrigo
In the months since then, Chappell Roan has brought in astonishing crowds to festivals, and she’s selling out her own shows left and right. At one point, she even joined Rodrigo on stage at her show in LA to sing “Hot To Go!” (which you can see above), and the crowd was screaming and dancing along with them.
Now, Chappell Roan’s success is overwhelming, and she’s taking over the world with her incredible outfits and catchy tunes. That’s in part because of what Olivia Rodrigo addressed, this woman truly is “magic” when she performs, and it’s in part because she does it how she wants it done and is seemingly uncompromising in that pursuit.