Midwest Princess Chappell Roan, outfitted in her signature drag-inspired style, just drew the largest crowd in Lollapalooza history, cementing her reign as 2024's top pop royalty. Her rise was a meteoric one—since she dropped her debut album last fall, her Spotify streams have jumped 9,000 percent (literally), your mom is now calling to ask how to pronounce Roan (no, Ma, it's not "Ro-ANN"), and your 8-year-old cousin is singing her heart out to "Good Luck, Babe!," a song about battling compulsory heterosexuality in a lesbian situationship.
The deeply queer content of Roan's music—from slumber party kisses to gay awakenings via boring first dates—is not only relatable, it's also a major part of her draw. And its impact has been a big topic of conversation in a moment that social media and the actual media have dubbed a pop culture lesbian renaissance. More supporting evidence: Also this year, Reneé Rapp played now-queer Mean Girls antagonist Regina George and dropped music about her real-life gay experiences to a dedicated following of 6 million listeners on Spotify; Victoria Monét earned the most Grammy nominations in a single year for an openly queer Black woman; Billie Eilish wrote a chart-topping banger about giving a girl head; and Julia Fox casually came out on TikTok.
Listen, it's not wrong to uplift Roan and her sapphic coconspirators—I'm doing the "HOT TO GO!" choreo at my desk right now—but as a queer woman and music obsessive who forecasts trends for fun, I must report that y'all are missing the bigger—and even gayer—picture. |
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