Chappell Roan has opened up and reflected on her religious upbringing revealing “I just couldn’t handle feeling ashamed anymore.”
Roan appeared as one of the three guests on the A Carpool Karaoke Christmas holiday special that was surprised released on Sunday (December 15) on Apple TV+ and Apple Music.
For her segment, the ‘Red Wine Supernova’ singer was joined by Apple Music host Zane Lowe and her parents Kara and Dwight as they drove around her home state of Missouri.
While on the drive, they all joined in on singing along to Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’ and Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’, which she recently performed alongside Sabrina Carpenter on A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter. It was here that the singer took the time to reflect on her religious upbringing, revealing that it was something she found stifling.
“I know for a lot of people, it’s actually very freeing. For me it almost did the opposite, where I felt like I couldn’t be myself, that who I was was a sin and I was going to hell no matter how good of a person I was or how much I loved God, for being gay. And I just couldn’t handle feeling ashamed anymore,” Roan shared.
Chappell Roan brought her mom and dad for A Carpool Karaoke Christmas in Missouri. pic.twitter.com/gICaWlyEgn
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 16, 2024
Chappell Roan’s dad tears up during “Pink Pony Club” on A Carpool Karaoke Christmas:
“What she stands for is a lot of hope. But what she has taught me as a father is respect for other people and all people. And that’s what I want people to understand. Everything that is about… pic.twitter.com/WqpVyRNMqr
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 16, 2024
She continued, adding that though she found more freedom when she moved to Los Angeles, she is “grateful” to be from Missouri. “[In] a conservative community, I understand the fear and where it comes from. It’s scary when it’s something you don’t know or understand. So it’s like one degree every conversation,” she said. “It’s conversation after conversation and not just giving up on people that had helped you when you were in diapers. Like, that’s just not how I personally operate. The door has to be open or there is no learning.”
Previously speaking to NME as part of The Cover, Roan spoke about her upbringing and shared: “I was raised on Christian rock, but I never identified with it. I felt such a push and pull because I was so curious about pop music but couldn’t identify why I related to it. It was [talking about] a lifestyle I did not live. I was very sheltered and very prude.”
She continued, adding that breaking away from that suffocating shell brought on by her religious upbringing was a “gradual process” while in LA’s queer heartland. “I was told this city is demonic and Satanists live here,” she said. “But when I got to West Hollywood, it opened my eyes [to the fact] that everything I was afraid of wasn’t always true – especially [what I’d been told] about the queer community. Going to gay clubs for the first time, it felt spiritual.”
Elsewhere in the segment, Roan’s mother Kara opened up about serving as partial inspiration for the popular track ‘Pink Pony Club’. “I started to tear up just listening to her sing it just now,” she said. “We love her so much and we’re so proud of what she does and who she is and what she stands for. I love singing it with her at her shows and I love it when you can just see the people just respond to that song so much. And even when we’re grown up, we really care about what our parents think about us.”
Dwight, Roan’s father also chimed in adding: “I hope that that’s something that she always knows, that we love her so much and we could never not be proud of her. I think about this a lot and try not to get emotional about it. I already am… What she has taught me as a father is respect for other people and all people, and that’s what I want people to understand. Everything that is about her is about loving everybody, and she has taught me that.”
In other news, Roan’s breakthrough track ‘Good Luck, Babe’ was recently named as one of NME’s Best Songs of 2024, clinching the top spot a Number One: “There are hits, and then there are career-making hits. Released in April, this standalone single sent Chappell Roan supernova and turned her debut album, ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’, into an overdue smash.”
