If you open any major streaming platform, you may notice the top hits from a new artist who has only recently become recognized by the public. With electric, upbeat rhythms and iconic lyrics, Chappell Roan rose to fame swiftly in the past few months despite producing music for much longer. 

To my surprise, she performed at USC as the headliner for FemFest 2023, before her burst in popularity. Echoing themes of gender and LGBTQIA+ empowerment, Roan consistently uplifts those from small towns who struggled to find tolerance in their upbringings.

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In her 2022 single “Pink Pony Club,” she sings about a fictional character who confronts her conservative mother and comes to peace with her drag queen persona after moving to Los Angeles. This journey resonates with her own, as she grew up in rural Missouri with Christian parents and relocated to Hollywood to develop her artistic career as an early adult. 

Roan’s songs are not inherently political — they bring a heartwarming touch through an evolving storyline. However, the eagerness to escape from a small town and start anew in a big city contains a political undertone —the understanding that urban environments are the preferred residencies for marginalized groups that are subjugated by legal regulations and cultural norms. 

To me, her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” feels aspirational. Before attending USC, I pictured Southern California as a sanctuary, a place of rebirth that would free me from years of awkward conversations and denials about the people I was attracted to. Just as her lyrics conveyed: “And I heard that there’s a special place / Where boys and girls can all be queens every single day.” 

However, after a year of living here, I realized that even Southern California is not the perfect safe space I imagined. Even with continuous reforms in state legislatures, the bills and resolutions that aim to protect the LGBTQIA+ community are still being stalled and challenged. For instance, custody courts refuse to take into consideration parents’ attitudes toward their children’s gender identities as a result of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s performative allyship. We are far from the ideal freedom Roan depicted in her vision. 

Nonetheless, for many once-closeted teens like myself, witnessing the growing popularity of an idol is incentivizing and comforting. Unlike other pop artists who tend to create a linear narrative of the queer experience, she writes about her love life and emotional upheavals through myriad perspectives. 

Beyond meeting the love of her life and later going through heartbreaks, she also captures complex phenomena; In her most streamed song, “Good Luck, Babe!,” she uncovers what it means for women to be victims of compulsory heterosexuality, perceiving marrying men and domesticity as mandatory in sacrifice of their lesbian identities. In her song “Casual,” another popular TikTok audio, she communicates the melancholy disappointment of being treated as a casual partner when craving more.

Many of those in Generation Z relate to these tender feelings, as Roan’s music often reflects what they have observed in their own lives. The difficulties of coming out and being in openly queer relationships are not unique to our generation, but we are more expressive because of previous advocacy and years of calling for more representations. 

Some may comment that her songwriting tends to be explicit, with detailed depictions of intimacy. I argue that lust is exactly the sentiment we, as open-minded listeners, are searching for. If heterosexual artists are allowed to describe their graphic dating lives, then so should queer musicians. We need to celebrate sexual liberation while acknowledging the bitter realizations of heteronormativity. 

Roan is also very outspoken about important social issues. While attracting an enormous audience at the Gov Ball Music Festival in New York this month, she opened up about her invitation to perform at the White House and her ultimate decision to reject the opportunity. She implied that she would not be entertaining the United States’ most prominent leaders for a Pride event because they have failed to uphold their promises to the citizens, such as guaranteeing freedom for human rights across the spectrum. 

Chappell Roan’s rise to fame proposes an exciting and refreshing future for LGBTQIA+ youth; with her charming persona and the magnetic joy she brings to the stage, her music displays relentless hope despite internal and societal suppression. Regardless of our sexual orientations, we all inevitably experience the buzz, exhaustion and “Guilty Pleasure” that comes with young love. With Roan’s music, we get to reclaim these feelings in the media and shed light on the evolution of queer love.