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Theres a reason why I want a party album, she says.
Youve invited local drag queens to open for you on tour.
Thats just the truth.
If I were bigger, then I would be a little scared.
I performed in Tennessee the first state to ban drag.
The day that I had the show was the day they signed it.
I want to be like,Fuck you!
Im doing drag if I want to!but then its probably putting the queens in danger.
And the last thing that needs to happen is for them to go to fuckingjail.
Whats special to me about your music is youre not just making queer-girl music.
Its this really high-femme, over-the-top gay pop.Oh, for sure.
I just want to be Hannah Montana.
Thats what I liked when I was little.
Pop music is pop music.
Its not trying to be indie, math-rock bullshit.
Do you remember when you rethought your love of pop?Yeah, I hated performing myold EPon tour.
And I got jealous.
I was like, I want to dothat.I dont want to do what Im doing.
This is too serious.
How do I have fun on stage?
How do I make this a party?
Its one thing to want to make fun music.
Its another to write the sort of pop hooks you do, which are insanely catchy.
Whats your process when it comes to making a hook?I just dont care if I sound stupid.
Its letting the part of myself go that judges me as a writer.
What I started doing was stop trying to impress the music industry and start trying to impress gay people.
It does not come easily.
Its hard to make a goodpopsong.
Its hard to make a pop song that feels stupid mean something.
I pat myself on the back because I took years to do this.
I see what you mean.
Whats your collaboration process like withDan Nigro?
This is what I want.
And I want the drums to be likethat,and I want it to be aboutthis.
Every song is written with the audience in mind.
Then you went independent, and now youre at Island.
And its not that they were holding me back.
I mean, they were holding me back alittle.
Like, Atlantic didnt want to put Pink Pony Club out.
When I say Atlantic, its the powers that be.
We had it written.
We wrote it Valentines Day 2019.
And it came out, unfortunately, April 2020, the worst time ever to release music.
But it was amazing because it opened up doors that I did not even know existed.
Like, I was free to be trashy, and it didnt matter because I was independent.
I was so close to giving up.
I moved back in with my parents that summer.
I was working the drive-through.
I was a mess.
I was just so, so, sick, mentally.
Youve been very open on social media about mental-health struggles.
How do you handle sharing that at a certain level of fame?
Are those boundaries shifting for you?Theyre absolutely shifting.
I can see me quitting this job because the boundaries are so nonexistent between fans and me.
We need to talk about how weird fan culture is.
Speak on it.I just did VIP on this past tour, and Im not going to do it again.
Chappell is a character.
Idolizing someone is so weird!
You said Chappell Roan is a character and referenced Hannah Montana.
It hurts my feelings when people say mean things about me online.
But it doesnt hurt my feelings as much if theyre saying it about Chappell.
Then its just them commenting on the art.
I have to remind myself all the time: Art is meant to be judged.
Thats the whole point.
It does hurt less if Im just like,Okay, theyre judging the project.
They dont know who I am.
And theres a lot of that stuff in your songs.
Thats definitely put me in some uncomfortable situations.
I feel really, really uncomfortable when people hit on me.
I have a whole song called Hot to Go.
Its this dichotomy thats so confusing to me sometimes, but people take it literally.
It manifests in ways of, I feel really uncomfortable watching sex scenes.
Like I cant watchEuphoria.I feel awkward at strip clubs.
I feel like Im such a weird flirter because I get really self-conscious.
But the Chappell version of me is not scared of any of that.
Your music videos for songs like Casual andMy Kink Is Karmahave these over-the-top costumes and fantasy aesthetics.
What are your influences?Definitely Bratz dolls.
Im very much inspired by drag and burlesque.
Pinterest is my way of life.
Is your board private?It has to be.
It gives away everything.
I want to sell out the fall tour.
And I want to do a U.K. tour next spring.
But thats kind of it.
I just love touring.
The only Grammy I want to win is album packaging.
Im just trying to have fun.
