Cementing her rocket-ship ascent as one of pop’s biggest rising stars, Chappell Roan won best new artist at the Grammys on Sunday. After accepting the trophy, she read an extended criticism of how the music industry treated her as a young artist from a notebook she brought onstage.
“Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection,” she said. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
She defeated the pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who also had a breakout year; the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” country singer Shaboozey; the buzzy “Denial Is a River” rapper Doechii; two singers with soulful smashes, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims; the sharp British singer and songwriter Raye; and the vibey Austin band Khruangbin.
Roan is the drag-inspired stage persona of Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, 26, who released her first EP in 2017 and was dropped by her label three years later, before her queer romance ballads and peppy dance-pop tracks like “Hot to Go” and “Red Wine Supernova” from her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” found an audience.
Roan was nominated for six Grammys at the 2025 awards, including the “big four” all-genre categories. “Good Luck, Babe!,” a searing kiss-off song released last year, became a hit and was up for both record and song of the year.
In August, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Roan went from playing 600-capacity venues to drawing eye-popping crowds at festivals across the country. In November, she was the musical guest for the most-watched episode yet of the 50th season of “Saturday Night Live.”
Earlier in the night, Roan performed her track “Pink Pony Club,” a tribute to the Los Angeles gay-bar scene, on the Grammys stage atop a large float of a pink pony, accompanied by rodeo clowns.
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