Why Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan's Pop Stardom is So Satisfying

As the Gov Ball 2024 festival in New York reached its peak at noon, I found myself next to the stage speakers, 10 or 20 feet from Sabrina Carpenter. Thousands of people were screaming behind me, a stream of cameras, phones capturing my every movement. And Carpenter was a pop star out of a movie: brilliant and effortless, sly and sensual, playful and risky, fully present in the moment. In the crowd, we were delighted when she told us to shout “I'm a slut!” – twice, “with a little courage” – and we obeyed.

Three years ago, I shared a slice of Napoleon cake in Williamsburg with Carpenter as we discussed his upcoming album, emails I can't send. She was spending a summer in New York with her friends making music she loved, and there was this pent-up feeling of exuberance that lingered through the most isolated pandemic days of last winter. In a Topanga of A boy meets the world t-shirt, she was giddy, smiling, ready to talk about the Disney days that shaped her, the controversies she was involved in at the time, and the future she imagined as an artist.

We talked about herself, at 10 years old, the girl who was releasing music without necessarily knowing what she was doing or who she would become. “What would I tell myself [at that age]? That I can really grow up and do what I always wanted to do,” she told me then. “And let people listen. And not giving up was a good choice. She had more freedom than ever in her art and she couldn't wait for what was going to happen.

This past weekend I watched at the Gov Ball as she commanded the main stage at Verizon and showed everyone who hadn't seen her charm a room at various NYC club shows, or do the opening act for Taylor Swift, that she was a main pop girl here to stay.

I didn't get a chance to see the Chappell Roan Gov Ball set (nor the iconic Lady Liberty Drag!) on Sunday, but looking at the crowd online, the large number of fans shouting “Femininomenon” at the top of their lungs lungs caused a similar type of feeling. Shortly after interviewing Carpenter, my sister sent me Roan's “Pink Pony Club” and I played it 67 times in a row, sending it to at least 10 friends. In the same six months, I saw Roan and Carpenter fill Webster Hall and create some of the most fun and euphoric concert atmospheres I've ever experienced, and I interviewed them about their vision for the future. Neither artist will play this venue for at least five years, and possibly never again – the move from club to auditorium to arena is coming so quickly it's already upon us. It was so clear at the Gov Ball that they were both already past their late afternoon time slots.

Kelsey Weekman reported for Yahoo a few months ago about the connection between the two artists: “Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter's fame came slowly, then all at once. » Two perfectly imperfect stories, each artist with their own trials and story arcs – Roan the Missourian who moved to Los Angeles and embraced her homosexuality through drag and pop music, Carpenter the Disney starlet who could never have broken out , which so many people have written off. Both took ownership of their respective stories and used them to move forward; you don't have to forget where they come from, that's a big part of why you love them.