She has quickly become a household name, with five songs charting on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, thousands of people attending her music festival performances, and clips from her now-viral Tonight Show appearance on TikTok.
But even some of her loyal fans looked on in amazement at Missouri superstar Chappell Roan on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old Red Wine Supernova singer was nearly unrecognizable as she appeared faceless and barefoot in a new Instagram slideshow.
The photos showed Chappell, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, wandering around New York City in a sheer white bra and no shoes.
She captioned the post with the cheeky message: “No shoes, no shirt, no problem!!!”
Instead of her blue eyes, the singer, who went makeup-free, wore chocolate brown contact lenses for the street photoshoot.
She paired her white triangle bra with a pleated white mesh bolero and a wide pleated skirt.
Chappell wore her long, flaming red curls pulled into a messy bun as she gazed stoically into the camera.
She was photographed in various locations in New York.
One shot showed her walking toward a row of colorful hot dog carts, while another showed her standing idly beneath a scaffolding with her fingers tangled in her curly hair.
The photos were taken by Lucienne, Chappell’s travel photographer.
Chappell’s post received nearly 1,000,000 likes in less than 12 hours and she received a response from Miley Cyrus’ younger sister Noah Cyrus.
“No cause barefoot in New York is crrrazy,” wrote the 24-year-old Cyrus, who is a hitmaker in her own right.
Chappell’s meteoric rise to fame has been one of the biggest stories of the year in the music industry, with even pop divas like Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande getting credit for it.
Chappell — who dubbed herself “your favorite artist’s favorite artist,” in the spirit of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby — has amassed a whopping 68.36 million streams to date.
In September 2023, the rising star — who identifies as lesbian — released her debut album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, which has generated just 2.51 million on-demand streams in the US as of January 4, 2024, according to Luminate via Billboard.
However, her fame grew when she toured with Olivia Rodrigo on her GUTS World Tour from February to April. She then released the single Good Luck, Babe! and performed at Coachella that same month.
Chappell Roan made many of her loyal fans look twice on Wednesday when she appeared on Instagram wearing brown contact lenses and no makeup; seen in May
The red-haired hitmaker is quickly becoming a household name, with five songs climbing the Billboard Hot 100 chart, thousands of people flocking to her music festival performances, and clips from her now-viral Tonight Show performance taking over TikTok; seen in June
In May and June, her stream count skyrocketed when she performed at three festivals: Boston Calling in Boston, Governors Ball in New York and Bonnaroo in Tennessee.
Chappell’s streams have now outpaced the star of the year by more than 20 times, with her repertoire generating a whopping 68.36 million streams in the week ending June 20, according to the site.
Her aforementioned debut album also failed to chart on the Billboard 200 upon its release in September, as it only sold 7,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate.
But following Chappell’s performance on Olivia Rodrigo’s tour and the release of her single Good Luck, Babe!, she finally debuted at #127 on April 6 with just over 9,000 equivalent album units.
And that was just the beginning. It continued to climb the charts, earning 46,000 album equivalents in the week ending June 20, bringing its total album equivalents to 423,000.
Her meteoric rise to fame hasn’t been smooth sailing, with the star breaking down in tears during a concert earlier this month.
The singer, who hit the red carpet at the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Awards last month, felt a lump in her throat during her concert in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, June 12.
The Good Luck, Babe! hitmaker – born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz – had tears streaming down her face as she told the crowd: “I guess I just want to be honest with the crowd. I just feel a little weird today because I think my career is moving really fast and it’s really hard to keep up.
“I’m just being honest that I’m just having a hard time today.”
The rising star explained that her meteoric rise is difficult to comprehend, even as she makes her dream come true.
In September 2023, the rising star – who identifies as lesbian – released her debut album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, which has only generated 2.51 million on-demand streams in the US as of January 4, 2024, according to Luminate via Billboard.
Now, Chappell’s (pictured in LA in February) streams are more than 20 times bigger than the star of the year, with her catalog racking up a whopping 68.36 million streams in the week ending June 20, according to the site
Chappell continued, “I’m sorry that — I’m not trying to give you a lesser show. It’s just, there’s a lot of… Thank you for understanding.
“This is all I ever wanted. It’s just hard sometimes, I guess.”
Chappell has seen a huge increase in her fan base in recent months as her current Midwest Princess Tour hits club venues.
Demand was so great that some concerts were moved to larger venues, but these still sold out.
According to reports, the Willard Festival in Missouri last month even drew a bigger crowd than headliners like Ed Sheeran at the Boston Calling festival.
On Sunday, June 16, she performed at the popular Bonnaroo festival, where she was originally scheduled to play on one of the smaller stages in a tent.
After public outcry, Chappell was moved to the open-air Which Stage to accommodate her rabid fans.
The talented star’s music is inspired by ’80s synthpop and early 2000s pop hits. Her performance style is often described as “campy,” which is defined as “an aesthetic and sensibility that sees something as attractive because of its bad taste and ironic value.”
The artist, who says she is strongly influenced by drag queens, has been involved with music for more than half her life.
At the age of 17, she uploaded an original song – titled Die Young – to YouTube and was signed by Atlantic Records shortly after. She released an EP and single shortly after, but her album was dropped shortly after in 2020.
The meteoric rise to fame hasn’t exactly been easy, as the star burst into tears during her concert in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, June 12
On Sunday, June 16, she performed at the hugely popular Bonnaroo festival (pictured), having originally been scheduled to play one of the smaller tented stages. After public outcry, Chappell was upgraded to the open-air Which Stage to accommodate her rabid fan base.
Chappell performed at the Governor’s Ball festival in New York on June 9 and revealed that she had turned down a Pride event at the White House when she boldly stated, “This is in response to the White House asking me to perform for Pride. We want freedom, justice and liberty for all. If you do that, I will come.”
After a short hiatus, Chappell self-released a series of songs in 2022.
The rising artist released her debut album, titled The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, in 2023 on Island Records.
In early 2024, she was the opening act for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour and performed at the world-famous festival Coachella, where she became hugely popular.
Chappell performed at the Governor’s Ball festival in New York on June 9 and announced that she had turned down a pride event at the White House.
She said boldly, “This is in response to the White House asking me to perform for Pride. We want freedom, justice and liberty for all. If you do, I will come.”
Chappell also made his debut at the festival with a new song titled Subway.