As a teenager, Chappell Roan set out for Recording Academy recognition. In a video resurfaced online, the Missouri-born artist took home the top prize at a 2012 talent show in Springfield, Missouri, and said, “I want to win a Grammy.”
“That’s my goal” a 14-year-old Roan said, as she accepted a check for $1,012. “And I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it.”
Despite chuckles from the crowd in 2012, her dreams were realized Sunday when Roan won the Grammy for Best New Artist. Roan, who was up against Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Shaboozey, and others, was the predicted frontrunner in the category. The 67th Grammys marked her first year at the awards show, where she received a total of six nominations. As she accepted the accolade, dressed in a princess hat, she thanked her listeners and demanded music labels offer a livable wage and healthcare.
“I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor,” Roan said in her speech, “and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance.”
Roan signed to Atlantic Records in 2015, and spent the next two years commuting from Missouri to Los Angeles to New York to attend recording session and meetings. Atlantic released pop gem “Pink Pony Club,” which she performed at the Grammys in a shimmering pink cowboy hat. That same year, as labels fell under the pressure of the pandemic, she was dropped. In her Grammys speech, Roan called it “devastating” to lose her health insurance.
“So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection,” she continued. “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Roan’s anthem “Good Luck, Babe!” received nominations for Best Pop Solo Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess also garnered nods in the Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the year categories.