Confessions of a ‘Midwest Princess’: How Chappell Roan’s Debut Album Arose From the ‘Deep Pits of Hell’ to Become a ‘Dream Come True’
variety.comEllise Shafer When Chappell Roan calls from Los Angeles, the singer-songwriter is picking up matcha on her way back from a morning pilates class. “I like, kind of hate myself because of that sentence,” Roan tells Variety. “I’m literally in Silverlake — that’s even worse.
If I was in Beverly Hills it would be so typical, but ugh, I’m that bitch on the east side.” The 25-year-old has certainly come a long way from her home of Willard, Mo., a small Midwestern town with a population of only 6,000.
Though Roan has clearly adapted to the L.A. lifestyle of athleisure and overpriced drinks, she’ll always carry a piece of the Midwest with her — hence the title of her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” out now. “I knew I needed to put the Midwest in there just because it’s so important to my project,” Roan says. “It influences the music, my fashion, my lyrics, the energy around it.
It’s important for me to capture the Midwestern aspect. I don’t want to lose that part of me. I thought I really did when I was younger, but now I don’t anymore.” Born Kayleigh Amstutz, Roan had what she calls a “really depressed” childhood. “I was diagnosed bipolar when I was 22, but as a child I think my parents just thought I was being a brat, so I had such a difficult time,” she says.
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