Welcome to The Lavender Tab — my name is Ash Woerner and I’m the Viking News’ resident they/them, here to talk about all things LGBT. And for our very first post, I thought we’d start off by talking about our newly crowned “princess of pop,” Chappell Roan.
By now, it’s hard not to have heard about Chappell; her songs “Good Luck, Babe” and “HOT TO GO!” have been all over TikTok and Instagram Reels — not to mention her appearances on shows like The Tonight Show. And just yesterday, Chappell won “Best New Artist” at the VMAs.
Upon accepting the award, Chappell Roan dedicated her win to drag queens, her LGBT fans and queer kids who, like her, are from the midwest — and that’s exactly why her win is so important. Chappell Roan is unabashedly a queer artist, who takes inspiration from the drag community for her “camp” looks and who openly sings songs about relationships with women.
Her hit song “Good Luck, Babe” is a breakup song about wishing good luck to a closeted female partner who isn’t able to accept her own feelings. It’s a song about how no matter how much you try to deny it, you can only ignore who you are at the cost of your own happiness.
It’s honestly surreal to see a song that is explicitly about a lesbian relationship become so wildly popular; it’s truly a reflection of how attitudes are shifting towards the LGBT community. We’re no longer underground, we’re allowed to join the mainstream.
And it didn’t start with Chappell Roan. Before her there were countless queer artists who paved the way by letting LGBT culture influence their art or by coming out to an often unaccepting world.
In recent memory, there’s Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish and Reneé Rapp. I can’t tell you how it felt to hear Reneé Rapp’s “Not My Fault (ft. Megan Thee Stallion)” at Prom last year, to hear people singing along to the line “Can a gay girl get an amen?”
Can you imagine anything like that happening even just a couple years ago? Can you imagine someone like Chappell blowing up in 2019? I can’t.
Of course, Chappell Roan isn’t perfect. She’s come under fire for a number of controversies (most of which are unreasonable, in my opinion, but you can make your own decisions) following her rise to fame, one of the most recent being her canceling her shows in Paris and Amsterdam to rehearse for the VMAs — which, yeah, fair, that sucks.
But even as Chappell Roan writes songs that may mean a lot to her fans, especially those in the LGBT community, we need to remember to not get overly attached to this idea of Chappell we have in our minds. We know the persona Chappell Roan, we do not know the real person Kayleigh Rose Amstutz — hold on to that distinction.
Because when you don’t, that’s when you start thinking it’s alright to harass and even stalk your favorite celebrity (or your favorite celebrity’s favorite celebrity). Artists are allowed to set boundaries, and we are not entitled to information and access to them whenever we want.
Besides, not getting too attached to these celebrities you don’t really know protects you from heartache if it comes out that they’re actually an awful person (which seems to happen all too often these days).
Not to mention it stops you from becoming one of those people who defend your idol’s bad behavior just because you fell in love with who you thought they were. I get it, it’s easy to idolize these people — I do it too — but we’ve got to be self-aware.
Now, if you’re interested in listening to some other openly LGBT artists, I’ve got two recommendations for you.
First and foremost, I’m a huge Cavetown fan and have been since middle school, so if you’ve only heard “Boys Will be Bugs” or “Devil Town” or “This is Home,” check out his newer stuff — he’s improved a lot musically! His most recent EP “little vice” is very good and so is his album “worm food.”
Then, a recommendation I got from someone who was listening to Chappell Roan before she was widely popular: King Princess. I’m not an avid King Princess listener, but there is one song I’m a big fan of (that I cannot write the name of here. You’ll know it when you see it).
But, if you get nothing else from this blog post, try listening to Chappell Roan — not just the songs that are rising up the charts, but the rest of her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” or even her older songs. Despite the fact that I’m not even a girl, two of my favorites are “Femininomenon” and “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl.”
And if that’s not a testament to Chappell Roan’s widespread appeal, I don’t know what is.
