PHOTOS6 Things to Know About Chappell Roan: Her Instant Rise to Fame, Meaning of Her Stage Name and More
Chappell Roan has started gaining more attention years after her official debut.
What Is Chappell Roan's Real Name?
Rising pop star Chappell Roan, who made headlines for her viral Coachella debut, was born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz on February 19, 1998.
What Does Her Stage Name Mean?
Speaking in an interview with Cherwell in 2012, Roan explained how she came up with her stage name and what inspired her to create it.
"I have never felt super connected to my real name Kayleigh. My grandfather's name was Dennis K. Chappell, so I took Chappell in his honor," she revealed. "Before he passed away in 2016 due to brain cancer, I told him that I was going to be Chappell for him. Roan came from his favorite song, which was called the Strawberry Roan, an old Western song about a pinkish red horse. It's a very sentimental name."
The "Pink Pony Club" songstress continued, "I do still wish my name was not Kayleigh in real life, though."
How Did Chappell Roan's Career Start?
The singer-songwriter, 26, signed her first record deal with Atlantic Records when she was 17 after her original song, "Die Young," went viral on YouTube.
In 2017, she released her debut EP, School Nights, before dropping her studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in 2023.
Roan rose to fame even more after making her Coachella debut and opening for Olivia Rodrigo's Guts Tour.
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Will Chappell Roan Debut as an Actress?
During Roan's interview with Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang in a cover story for Interview, she clarified she would instead "get arrested" rather than transitioning from music to acting.
"I say this with peace, and love, and blessings. Actors are f------ crazy," she told Yang. "Like I get so freaked out by film people. I've been asked in the past couple of weeks like, ‘You want the lead in XYZ?' and I'm like, ‘No.'"
Roan added, "I originally started doing music because I wanted to get my foot in the door for acting, and then I moved to Los Angeles, and I was like, 'F--- that. The industry is legitimately so scary, and it is so out of my control."
Chappell Roan Has Called Out 'Creepy' Fans on TikTok
On TikTok, the "Good Luck, Babe!" singer posted videos to call out creepy fans who interacted with her in public. She tried to explain her reasoning by asking her followers to imagine bumping into a "random woman" on the street.
Roan then spoke about street harassment and stalking, sharing, "I don't care that it's normal. I don't care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the career that I've chosen. That doesn't make it okay. That doesn't make it normal. That doesn't mean that I want it. It doesn't mean that I like it."
Her rant resonated with what she told Drew Afualo on his "The Comment Section" podcast. During the July interview, the "Casual" singer said she "pumped the brakes" on her career due to such behavior of her fans.
She Recently Scored Several Career Wins
According to Billboard, Roan rose to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Chart after her debut studio album sold 72,000 more units. It followed Taylor Swift's No. 1 album, The Tortured Poets Department, on the list.
In addition, a spokesperson for Lollapalooza told CNN that Roan's performance at the festival "was the biggest daytime set we've ever seen."
