By Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Chappell Roan won the 2025 best new artist Grammy award on Sunday, beating out fellow nominees including popular “Please Please Please” singer Sabrina Carpenter.
Roan, emotional after receiving her first Grammy, took the stage sporting her signature drag-inspired makeup and a large yellow cone hat.
“I told myself that if I ever got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists offer a liveable wage,” Roan said.
She expressed her own experience as a minor that was signed by a record label and eventually dropped from that contract, leaving her unable to afford health insurance.
“We (music artists) got you, but do you got us?” she added
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, known professionally as Chappell Roan, was nominated in six Grammy categories this year, including song of the year for “Good Luck, Babe!”
Roan rose to fame after she released a series of independent singles, including the disco power-pop song she wrote, “Pink Pony Club,” which didn’t top charts until four years after its initial release.
“Pink Pony Club” was inspired by the real-life West Hollywood, California bar that the singer visited called “The Abbey.”
Known for her bright blend of 1980s pop with elements of disco and techno-pop, the Missouri-born singer spawned a cult following after her “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” album debuted in 2023, which led to her album of the year Grammy nomination.
Fans flocked to the sold-out 2024 Kentuckiana Pride Festival and 2024 Lollapalooza music festival to see the rising pop-singer.
She also opened for Olivia Rodrigo on the Guts World Tour in 2024.
Roan’s big break came after auditioning for “America’s Got Talent” and not getting selected as a contestent, and then trying to build up her YouTube channel in 2013, mostly singing cover songs.
The 26-year-old wrote her own original song called “Die Young,” which she performed at various showcases until she was signed by Atlantic Records in 2015.
Roan, who is openly queer, explores themes of LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, and drag queen culture in her music.
From 16-time Grammy-winner Adele, who won the best new artist award in 2009 for “Chasing Pavements” to popular names like Dua Lipa, who won the award in 2019, the honor has been an early indicator of artists that will rise to the top ranks of the music industry.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway; Editing by Mary Milliken and Stephen Coates)
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