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Chappell Roan
Needing little introduction, Chappell Roan is a singer-songwriter and performance artist, raised in Missouri and currently based in LA. While Roan’s debut album - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - was released in 2023, 2024 the year that the musician’s career went stratospheric.
From her Tiny Desk set going wildly viral in March to the April release of “Good Luck Babe”, which felt like an instant pop classic, to last month’s exhilarating SNL performance of the as-yet-unreleased “The Giver”, there was the sense of superstar being made before our eyes, and a level of hype not seen since Lady Gaga’s rise in the late 00’s. As just one indicator of this, when Roan performed at Lollapapoolza in August, she drew one of the largest festival crowds in history.
While her rise to fame has not always been frictionless, her talent as a songwriter and performer is undeniable, and her outspoken solidarity with Palestine - which led to an onslaught of attacks - marks her as a cultural figure of rare integrity. Perhaps more than any other artist, 2024 belonged to her.