On the pop music charts, Chappell Roan is hot — and not to go.
The singer-songwriter has been steadily on the rise since the release of her latest single “Good Luck, Babe!” She currently has three hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and her headline-making performances at music festivals like Coachella, Governors Ball and Bonnaroo have led to last-minute stage upgrades to accommodate massive crowds.
On June 20, Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, made her debut appearance on “The Tonight Show,” where she opened up about her rapidly rising career, the inspiration behind her elaborate fashion choices and more.
Here’s everything to know about “your favorite artist’s favorite artist.”
Chappell Roan made her album debut with ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’
Roan told Fallon that she recorded her September 2023 debut studio album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” with fun in mind.
“I just wanted to make something that I could party to and other people could party to. And like, something that I would never be sad or bored performing,” she said.
Roan, 26, signed her first record deal in high school but soon considered giving up music.
“I gave it a year,” she said. “I didn’t actually start making money where I could afford my rent until, like, the past maybe year and a half.”
Her back-up plan was to take a break from music, move back home and go back to school, either to be an esthetician or study genetics, she said.
But “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” has seen smash success. Now, Roan told Fallon she can’t help but feel validated.
“It feels like I was right all along,” she said.
Chappell Roan’s outfit inspirations
On “The Tonight Show,” Roan wore a black feathered costume to sit and chat with Fallon.
“Thank you for letting me borrow this outfit,” joked the singer.
She later changed into a white feathered costume, resembling an avian Glinda the Good Witch, to perform her synth pop hit “Good Luck, Babe!”
The musician, who donned a Statue of Liberty costume when she performed earlier this month at the 2024 Gov Ball in New York City, told Fallon that she and her stylist, Genesis Webb, collaborate on her costumes.
“We pull from drag. We pull from horror movies. We pull from burlesque. We pull from theater,” she said, explaining her cheerfully off-kilter aesthetic.
“I love looking pretty and scary or like pretty and tacky … Or just not pretty. I love that, too,” she said as the audience laughed.
“I just think it’s not serious,” she added.
Why she’s ‘your favorite artist’s favorite artist’
While performing at Coachella in April, Roan famously proclaimed, “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist.”
The sound bite has since gone viral on social media platforms like TikTok.
The “Red Wine Supernova” singer explained the quote, and its origin, to Fallon.
“That was a reference to Sasha Colby,” Roan said, naming the Season 15 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“Sasha Colby said, ‘I’m your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen.’ And it just hit me through the heart,” she continued. “And so I was like, I hope Sasha Colby one day watches me and that’s why I said it.”
Now, when internet users search “Chappell Roan” on Google, the results page opens with a prompt that reads, “Did you mean: your favorite artist’s favorite artist?’”
But Roan said she had nothing to do with it.
“I didn’t do that,” Roan told Fallon. “No, it’s this random twink that works at Google. It’s some assistant who’s like, ‘We love her.’”
Similarly, when people Google “Sasha Colby,” the search engine prompts users, “Did you mean: your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen?”
