A Review on The Rise and Fall of the Midwest Princess

 “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” is a title that remains a household name when it comes to the house of LGBTQ+ people, despite its release during 2023. In fact, its popularity skyrocketed only this year, 2024, when Chappell Roan’s most recent single, “Good Luck, Babe!”, had thrived through the notorious TikTok application. Now, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” remains #2 on the Billboard Top 200 following the release of “Good Luck, Babe!” as of the 3rd of November, 2024, along with its singles “HOT TO GO!”, “Pink Pony Club”, “Red Wine Supernova”, “Casual”, “Femininomenon” and “My Kink is Karma” at #19, #27, #43, #73, #82, #73 and #94 respectively.

Chappell Roan has been in the game since her first release in 2014, where she was known to be a Lorde-like artist who was merely a small, indie singer meant to mimic what was famous at the time, “Pure Heroine” by Lorde.. Her first douse of recognition was watered by none other than Troye Sivan, another queer artist who had also grown famous for his album back in 2015. It was in a tweet that Kayleigh Rose, Chappell Roan’s original stage name, had been predicted to grow to fame by the artist himself. Even then, Chappell Roan’s fame had its downfalls in 2020 during her being dropped from her own label, but being brought back with Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR” producer, Dan Nigro.

Amidst this explosion of popularity, the album’s dynamics and its positive criticism has proven to be backed by the amount of creativity and plotlines that Chappell had written in her songs. Each individual song has its own background, its own sound, and its own message from each other, producing a versatile yet cohesive album that everyone has grown to love. While the album is mainly in perspectives of Chappell’s life, most queer people relate to its lyricism, as well as dance to its spunky sonics. It is this album that proves that she wasn’t meant to be a Lorde mimicry, but the distinct Chappell Roan we know today—an artist who shows her campiness through her music and her fashion too.

Personally, the album has stuck with me through hardships and desire. I love the album, despite only finding it this year, because of its one-of-a-kind sonics and lyricism. While you may find other romance songs, only a few can strike the hearts of queer people; Chappell Roan is one of them, along with Troye Sivan, Sufjan Steven, Isaac Dunbar, and others.

The album has both dance and cry songs, and even dance-cry songs that Dua Lipa has been trying to release (no shade, I love Radical Optimism too). Her most famous song from the album (with the exception of the post-album single, “Good Luck, Babe!”), “HOT TO GO!”, is a campy, cheerleading song that even has a dance that comes with it. Chappell uses this song to engage with her audience, especially during concerts where everyone is invited to do the dance.

The niche about “HOT TO GO!” is that the song is redolent of sounds recollected from songs from the 90s, which creates an ABBA-like song that multiple generations can enjoy. TikToks have even emerged showing toddlers dancing and singing along to the very catchy and memorable chorus. Now, people call “HOT TO GO!” the new “YMCA” of Generation Alpha, and rightfully so. Its lyrics about dancing with a partner, loving it, and simply enjoying being with someone, has seeped into the hearts of many, even if it has an underlying queer background.

While “HOT TO GO!” is not queer-coded and is a song that isn’t sexuality-oriented, the album has examples of others: “Red Wine Supernova”, “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl”, and most notably, “Casual”. The latter is a heartbreaking melody that has developed into being the ‘heartbreak anthem’ for many sapphic people. I cannot relate to the song as well as others do, but the slow melodies and the production make it an endearing song that definitely conveys the most emotions I’ve ever felt in a song. It is this song where her techniques of singing invokes so much emotion and personality that makes the song scream ‘Chappell Roan’. This is also seen in another song that isn’t so popular, “Picture You”, which Chappell has famously added a difficult and beautiful technique called vocal flipping, which people have attempted to replicate online.

Other songs, some not about love, talk about issues in our society, albeit in a weirdly cheery way. Two songs that come to mind are “Femininomenon” and “Pink Pony Club”, two of which are profoundly known for their funky tunes but do have their interpretations. “Femininomenon” is about the issues women have with men who are known to be elusive and non-committal, which is known to be ‘masculine’ of them. Yet, the song screams about this in a more campy and comical way, creating a chant for women which is difficult for some people to actually repeat. Have you tried saying “Femininomenon” without getting your tongue jumbled between your teeth? “Pink Pony Club” is a song about losing blood-family because of your sexuality and joining a new, loving family that may not be one related by blood, but by experience. The song is a symbol for the ostracized, and yet, it performs it in such an exultant manner that mimics pride and self-revelation. It is a song I’ve related to.

The album is amazingly beautiful, with a plethora of different sonics. However, the songs that have gotten popular are strange choices. The aforementioned charting songs are great songs, though I feel some other songs deserve similar recognition. “Naked In Manhattan”, an exuberant song about finally indulging in a tense romance, is a song that has such good production composition and feels that it feels like a waste for it not to ever chart. In the same vein, “Picture You” is a slow-dance song that has shown Chappell’s vocal ability and, although it had gotten some traction, should have charted in a way. It isn’t Chappell’s fault that these songs hadn’t gotten the same popularity, as she has done her best. However, I couldn’t help but feel that the album could have had different single choices.

There are a few controversies that have emerged overtime. One is about Chappell’s insistence to do the dance that she had choreographed for “HOT TO GO!”. During a festival she was invited to, Chappell had seen people in the VIP area not engage in the concert as much as she wanted to, to which she commented on onstage. “It’s so weird that VIP thinks they’re so way too cool to do this,” she shouted on her microphone. “You’re not fun!”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_kQkbxp7nE) Many say that it isn’t her right to yell at fans, especially those who had paid more just to get better seats. However, growing up not as a person of wealth, Chappell disliked the fact that those who paid less were enjoying the show more than those who pride themselves on the money for paying more for a concert that they wouldn’t engage in. It is important to enjoy what you paid for.

Following this, Chappell Roan had spoken out against the treatment she’s been getting as a new celebrity. She claimed that she is being treated less than a human, claiming that she’s mad at fans for asking for pictures. Other artists have come to support Chappell, but many fans are saying that she is ungrateful for the immense fame that they have supported her in achieving. While it is true that it may be worded a little better, you have to agree it is genuine and it shows her exhaustion to the responsibility she shouldn’t be bearing just to keep herself safe.

Nonetheless, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” has, no doubt, turned the artist’s entire life around, becoming the new Midwest Princess.