Chappell Roan says the secret sauce to her success was not taking herself 'not seriously'

Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan

Chappell Roan hit up the Grammy Museum this week to chat about her stratospheric rise to fame and her mental health struggles.

Brandi Carlile facilitated the conversation with Roan and producer/songwriter Dan Nigro, who helped write "Pink Pony Club" back in 2018.

"I wore only black onstage. It was very serious," Roan said of her career before The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. "The second that I took myself not seriously is when things started working."

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Saying "things started working" feels like a gross understatement. There's zero question that Roan's career skyrocketed practically over night, leading her to headline festivals, perform at the VMAs, and swing by Saturday Night Live, where she recently debuted a brand new song ("It’ll come out, don’t worry," she said).

And taking on all that at once has definitely been a challenge for her, particularly when it comes to figuring out how to take care of herself.

"Every big thing that happens in someone's career happened in, like, five months for me. So it's so crazy that things I never thought would happen happened, like times 10," Roan said. "My life is completely different now, so my mental health routine is… like, everything is out of whack right now."

"This time last year, the way I took care of myself was, like, going to bed on time. Literally being diligent about how much time I spent online. And going outside and having fun with friends. But a lot of those things, like going outside, is different now," she explained.

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But she's figuring it out, especially when it comes to setting boundaries between her real life and her life as "Chappell Roan," which she confirmed is purely a persona for performing.

"I just can't be her all the time," she admitted. "It's just too much."