So every now and then I like to take a dip into my record collection and revisit and review an album I love and given Chappell Roan’s upcoming Laneway shows and the fact I’m currently obsessed with her like candy necklaces I thought I’d best get on to saying some nice things about The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
I often get people asking me how I first discovered Chappell Roan and I honestly don’t remember when I boarded this crazy train of queer joy, but I’m glad I’m along for the ride. I do remember spending a small fortune on this vinyl though and my partner being like “Are you sure you’re gonna play this enough?” He definitely regrets that comment now.
“It’s a lot more mellow than I expected” was his only other offering and I think that’s a good place to start. Chappell Roan’s reputation as a high energy pop princess is well deserved, but what’s perhaps unexpected on this album are the beautiful ballads. I adore her full throttle live performances, but there’s something so gentle and truly vulnerable about the studio versions of tracks like Kaleidoscope, Coffee or Picture You – even the album version of Casual is far more mellow and stripped back than its live reproduction.
Interwoven within these are those upbeat high energy pop tracks that first drew people to Chappell. The only word for Pink Pony Club at this point is ‘anthem’. Without a doubt this will be one of the pop songs of the decade. H.O.T.T.O.G.O. feels like this generation’s YMCA, and it’s impossible not to dance to Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl.
There are very few albums I truly listen to with no skips but this is one (genuinely, I even tried to play the blank unpressed side of the vinyl one day because there just wasn’t enough Midwest Princess in my life). I’ve thought a lot about what makes Chappell so iconic. Her sex positive lyrics (bonus points for the queer) are absolutely something I’m so here for, but there’s just something so real about her tracks. She writes these gorgeous lyrical songs but they’re about things we can all relate to – an awesome night out with your mates, that f— boy (or girl) who doesn’t want to commit, the person you just don’t trust yourself to be around as “just friends” – we’ve all been there.
It’s also the moods she conveys. She’s so fierce and independent yet so vulnerable, like she’s in this constant tug of war about how to present herself. Casual is a great example of this – lyrics like “told your friends I get off when you hit that, I hate to tell the truth but I’m sorry dude you didn’t”. It’s snarky, and sassy, but even the ‘sorry’ and the “I hate to…” is like “oh, I still should be polite about it”. She’s mad, but you can also hear the sadness, the subtle judgement of herself for her choices. For me, it’s that emotional complexity wrapped up in a pop package that is the crux of what makes this album wonderful. Pre The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess Chappell used to write a lot of sad girl Lana songs, and she’s retained a little bit of that post her pop glow up* and it really does make the tracks resonate in a way other artists’ don’t.
*Disclaimer: I don’t actually truly believe it was a glow up, I think this is who Kayleigh Rose Amstutz was all along, she just had to work out where that sat within her music career. ‘
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is both ‘dance your heart out in the club’ and ‘cry your heart out in the kitchen’ music and it has engaged me in pop music in a way I haven’t been since I was a teenager. It was the queer joy I didn’t know I needed.
Listen to The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess here.
Donate to The Midwest Princess Project here.