A “Casual” Conversation with Chappell Roan

Banner by Sarah Fournell / Photo by Ryan Clemens

By Sarah Fournell

Chappell Roan (nèe Kayleigh Amstutz) is defining what it means to be an indie pop star.  From breaking into the scene with “Pink Pony Club” to opening up for Olivia Rodrigo and selling out headline shows, Roan has blazed a path to stardom on her own. 

Roan’s music has the innate ability to make you feel like you’re at a sleepover—it’s teeming with vulnerability and a twang of girlish fun. Our conversation felt just like a late night slumber party confessional, equipped with brutally honest opinions and well-informed fashion advice. We swapped our favorite fall drinks —Roan’s is apple cider— and discussed our favorite LA dives. Throughout the interview, Roan toyed with an orange peel and twirled her fingers through her freshly dyed red hair. Before we dove into our therapeutic conversation about what it means to be truly “indie” and Roan paused to text a friend about the box of donuts she had forgotten in their car. Once she located the dozen, we were ready to move on to our discussion. 

What is the most meaningful thing in your life right now?

The most meaningful thing, or things, are when I have nights off with my friends. When I'm not doing work stuff, because even when I'm hanging with my friends, I'm all like, ‘Hey, guys, you want to come over and help me bedazzle? Like, we'll have a craft night!’ But it's actually like, work for me. So I really cherish that.

What was the process of choosing your stage name?

 I named it after my grandfather, Dennis Chappell, and his favorite song was called the “Strawberry Roan,” which is an old Western song, about a horse that was strawberry colored. It was originally just supposed to be Chappell, but someone had already taken it. And the last name took me a year to find. I spent every day searching.

I recently went line dancing and they played Pink Pony Club and the girlies in the bar went CRAZY! Would you ever choreograph a line dance to one of your songs? 

Oh my god, shut up. I would not choreograph a line dance. I would have someone else choreograph it, and then I would dance to it. I cannot dance, genuinely, it's so stressful to me to think about dancing.

You’ve spoken about your inspirations in music, but who are your biggest inspirations in your visual art, or the way you present yourself and your style?

I really like Bratz and Hannah Montana vibes. A lot of my aesthetic is what I would have really loved when I was little. Like right now, I’m not dressed as Chappell, I’m literally in jean shorts. But my projects are kind of an homage, doing my inner child justice, like giving her the freedom that she never got to be. So I think that's why my style is so specific. But I would say I’m influenced by a lot of pop culture, like Britney, and, like the other night, I just watched Aquamarine.

The term “indie” used to describe independent musicians but is now used to encompass the broad genre of “indie music.” You’ve talked before about really doing it all on your own, from writing to promoting to hand making costumes. How would you describe being truly indie?

I mean, it’s just like me and my friends pulling all this off. It's a lot of people working for free. I don't have a label funding all of this. It looks like me thrifting everything I have, learning how to do my own hair, learning how to do my makeup, watching a lot of Youtube tutorials on how to do, ‘okay I can’t afford the nails I want, so I’m going to learn to do my nails,’ I’m going to learn to sew. Being an independent artist means, like, you have limitations. But within those limitations can come magic. We made this music video for my song “My Kink is Karma,” and I've never been more proud of something, because, like, me and my friends made that. Everyone busted their ass just because they wanted to do a good job. And that’s what indepence looks like… It feels very empowering to be independent. It is fulfilling, but it is draining, physically and fiscally.

And it really pays off.

It pays off! It does, it really does. It put me in a league of like, ‘Oh, f*ck, she can like pull this sh*t off independently?’

That video and several of your music videos feature you performing, and it’s usually to represent a more authentic, confident version of yourself, which you talked about with your outfits. But what is your favorite part of the performance aspect?

I love dressing up. I love making the spectacle. The spectacle of it all is so fun.  That's probably it. My favorite part of the performance is the drama, literally just dressing up  and acting crazy. And I love seeing how people dress up at my shows, that's why I make them themed. Because I love that!

What was the first concert you went to?

Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. Honestly, Miley is my favorite. I just love her.

Who’s your dream collaboration?

I love Caroline Polacheck. I mean I would love to collab with her, but us on a song together, I don't know if that would make sense. But I would love for her to write or produce a song for me. But to sing as a duet? Oh my god, I don’t know dude. Honestly, it would be awesome if Harry Styles and I did a song together. I hope Olivia [Rodrigo] and I could do a song together. I think that would be cute. Do some type of duet.

What was opening up for her [Olivia Rodrigo] like? I was just curious to know how the audience, which was mostly kids, reacted to some of your songs? 

They f*cking went hard. They didn’t know what was happening, but they loved it. I was talking to Olivia and I was worried, I was like, ‘Dude, are you sure?’ But she was like ‘It’s fine! You’re going to be fine, it’s funny.’ And it was! It was fine! People really liked “Femininomenon.” It was just really fun. It was a big crowd, like nine thousand people. So it was really fun. I would do it again if she wanted to.

How has it been working with Dan Nigro?

He’s great. We just worked together yesterday and the day before. [I’m] working on finishing up an album, and  I have a new song coming out next Friday. We’re going to be working on making a live version of that. There’s a lot of sh*t going on. I love working with Dan, I love him dearly.

I have a very important question about your new song, “Casual.” Are you drinking a Baja Blast on the cover art?

YES! We had to photoshop the Taco Bell logo out, obviously. But yes, it’s my favorite drink.

Was there a specific incident or relationship that inspired “Casual?” Or was it more of like an amalgamation of experiences that you've had, or that friends have had.

Some of it was definitely fluffed, I guess. Like the first few lines of the chorus never happened–I never met their mom, you know, in Long Beach, or… never ate me out in a car, you know, but we made out in a car. The whole song came from, like, I heard from their friend that they were saying it was casual, when I didn’t think it was. I did not think it was, but apparently it was so. And to me I was like, how could this be? How could this be casual? It was inspired by one relationship, but there were multiple relationships I pulled from to complete the story.

You're incredibly detailed in your songwriting in the way that makes your private experiences feel universally relatable. What are some of your favorite extremely specific lines from “Casual”? 

I love the line from the bridge, “It’s hard when my favorite bra lives in your dresser/ It's hard being casual when I'm on the phone talking down your sister.” It’s very interesting because like I always somehow remain close friends with my ex's siblings. Like I would not be talking at all with my ex, but then I would be on the phone with their sister, and they’d be crying talking to me. That is interesting. Also, the final line of the song is “I f*cked you in the bathroom when we went to dinner, with your parents at the table, and you wonder why I’m bitter.” Like I’m meeting your parents! And you wonder why I’m pissed off that you’re saying it’s casual! I used to be really bad about dissociating and going into this dream world of what I thought people were, and they just weren't. I would have these crazy expectations of them and maybe that's why they were like, ‘It's casual, like, what are you talking about?’ But in my head, like I had made up this entire story, that didn't exist. It’s a sad song, it’s revealing of my delusions.

Since that one has a slower, sadder vibe, and you’ve talked about recording music, are those new songs going to be in the same vein of really diving into your feelings, or will you be going more into the excited pop club type songs like Femininomenon?

I always love both. To be honest, I’m better at writing ballads. I think everyone is better at writing songs about their feelings, it's way easier. In the winter time and fall time, I always get seasonally weird. The first night that it felt like fall, my body was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to be sad now.’ I can’t write pop songs right now. So that’s why “Casual” feels like a fall song. It feels kinda broody and pouty and moody. And the next one is just going to be a straight up ballad, in January, maybe February. The album is very much pop, but it’s going to be both. I want to be a pop artist.

What is your least favorite trend in today’s music?

I do think it’s a little weird – I don’t give a f*ck really– but I  know punk people do… well maybe they don’t, because they’re punk, so they don’t give a f*ck about anything! But I do think it’s interesting to see this chic, clean, punk, that’s very packaged. It’s weird that it’s a thing right now, because punk in the ‘80s and early 2000s, like, they would not f*ck with it. I think sadboy pop is the most annoying sh*t I’ve ever heard in my life. Like sorry, this sounds mean… I support every art!

I asked one of my friends if he had any questions for you so I’m just going to read to you what he sent me: “Omg, does she have a dog? I bet she would have a very long dog. Greyhound perchance.” 

So, I don’t have a dog, but do you want to see my pet? I have a Guinea pig, she’s very cute and very fat. Her name is GoGo. I don’t have a dog– I’m kind of scared of dogs, to be honest. I got bit by one when I was eighteen. I was bit by –this sounds so dramatic– a wolf. It was in LA, which makes sense. 

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Everyone keeps asking me that, and originally, I wanted to be Britney with the snake at the VMA’s, but I’m so deep into tour outfit prep, that I don't know. I have a lot of different options. Like I might just give up and be, like, a f*cking cat.

Chappell Roan’s new single “Casual” comes out at midnight tonight, and can be found on all streaming platforms.