Latest news with #TheGiver
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Chappell Roan Admits Backlash Gets to Her: 'It Makes Me Cry'
Chappell Roan is fierce all around, whether through her larger-than-life music, drag-inspired fashion, or how she publicly stands up for herself. While she has spoken her mind multiple times, the Grammy winner recently opened up about the constant criticism she receives and how it sits with her during a conversation with SZA for Interview magazine. 'I guess I wondered if you gave a fuck about the backlash,' the SOS singer asked, to which Chappell responded, 'I didn't, until people started hating me for me and not for my art.' The 'Pink Pony Club' hitmaker, whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, continued, 'When it's not about my art anymore, it's like, 'They hate me because I'm Kayleigh, not because they hate the songs that I make.' That's when it changed.' She added that while people know her as her public, on-stage persona, they don't know who she really is deep down. 'But when things are taken out of context, people assume so much about you. I didn't realize I'd care so much. When it comes to my art, I'm like, 'Bitch, you can think whatever you want. You are allowed to hate it with all your guts,'' she shared. 'But when it comes to me and my personality, it's like, 'Damn. Am I the most insufferable bitch of our generation?'' SZA, who initially rose to fame in the 2010s because of her booming music career, shared a similar sentiment. Upon hearing Chappell's confession, the One of Them Days star revealed she 'felt relieved' that she 'gives a fuck' and reassured her that it's beautiful to feel deeply. 'I felt like I was a punk bitch for feeling the way that I feel, because I'm just like, 'Oh, maybe I'm just not cut out for this shit,'' SZA said, referencing her fame. 'Because everybody else who's cut out for this shit doesn't give a fuck. But that's not true.' 'The Giver' singer then said that reading backlash aimed at her sometimes brings her to tears. 'It makes me cry,' she admitted. 'I don't know if it will ever feel okay to hear someone say something really hateful about me.' Elsewhere in the interview, the stars chatted about believing in magic and gushed about their mutual admiration for each other. Earlier this year, SZA reacted to Chappell naming her as a dream collaboration on Call Her Daddy, saying, 'Actually didn't believe this quote when I saw it written til I saw it come out her mouth jus now CAUSE DEAD ASS SAME.' She added, 'pls we must.' And with that, we will be (im)patiently waiting for an inevitable collab from these icons.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Chappell Roan's Smashes Return And Experience An Odd Coincidence
Chappell Roan has been relatively quiet over the past few months since releasing her most recent single, "The Giver" back in March. That track earned lofty debuts on rankings in a number of nations, as millions were excited to hear something new from the singer-songwriter, but it has largely disappeared. As fans wait to hear what the pop — and apparently country — musician is planning next, they're revisiting the tunes that made her a global superstar. Several of Roan's most popular songs reappear on tallies in the United Kingdom this week, as interest in her catalog is still incredibly strong, even if her latest cut didn't turn out to be a smash. This continued consumption holds, despite the fact that the recently-anointed Grammy winner doesn't seem to be making much of a promotional push at the moment. Roan sees five of her songs appear on at least one roster in the U.K. this frame, while several of them live on multiple lists simultaneously. "Good Luck, Babe!" is, as is often the case, one of her most successful tunes at the moment. The track is climbing on four different rankings and returns to the Official Singles Sales chart, becoming a bestseller once more. This time around, it reenters that all-genre list at No. 90. In the 56 weeks it has spent somewhere on the competitive tally, it has climbed as high as No. 2 — a position Roan has stalled at more than once. "Casual," one of the lesser-known singles from Roan's debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, also returns, but to a different list in the U.K. this week. It once again ranks among the 100 most-consumed tracks in the nation as it breaks back onto the Official Singles chart. Coincidentally, it joins "Good Luck, Babe!" in reentering a roster at No. 90. "Casual" has only spent eight weeks as one of the biggest tracks in the U.K. and has thus far never managed to crack the top 40, peaking at No. 44. Unlike "Good Luck, Babe!," however, "Casual" only sits on this one tally at the moment. Roan has only released one album so far, and it too manages to break back onto one tally. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess gallops back onto the Official Album Downloads chart at No. 65. At the same time, it's climbing on three other lists as it performs well in terms of both sales and streaming activity. If the title can hold on for one more frame and rank as one of the most-downloaded titles again in the U.K., it will hit its first full year on the Official Album Downloads chart.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘You need to let people know where you stand': Maren Morris on being country music's most outspoken star
'Sitting on the fence feels good between my legs' sings Maren Morris on Push Me Over, the best song on the country star's new album Dreamsicle. Co-written and produced by the queer pop band MUNA, the song is a flirtatious statement of intent for Morris, who publicly came out as bisexual last June. For someone who's made a career out of righteously aggravating country music's conservative base, it's also typically provocative. Singing so slyly about same-sex lust in Nashville, the heart of the country music establishment, where Christian values still reign supreme: does it still feel taboo? 'I mean, less so than it used to. But maybe that's just because I've removed myself a bit from the machine of all that,' says Morris from her home in Nashville. Despite the assumptions of outside onlookers, Nashville is more than just the 'mechanism of mainstream country music,' the 35-year-old says. 'It is that, but there's also so much diversity here and it's always been that way. It's a progressive dot in the middle of a really conservative state, and it has to be because it's a music town. It has to lend itself to open-minded ideals, because we're making music here and we're empaths and we feel deeply.' It's why Morris has never left the city, even if country music's more conservative forces have tried hard to excommunicate her. 'There's a heartbeat here that's very free and accepts people, and that's why I've chosen to remain here and make this my home. I have my community here that I love, but I also want to help make it better and redefine what people maybe think of the South or of country music.' The same sentiment that seeps through Chappell Roan's The Giver, her '90s-flecked country hit about sapphic generosity, lives in Morris' Push Me Over. More than just a lavender moment for mainstream country, it's country outcasts staking their territory. We're as country as Mr All-American Blue Jeans, they seem to be saying, you can't tell us we don't belong. 'I'm such a fan [of Chappell] and I think what she's advocating for and doing musically is so important,' says Morris. 'You just know when you're watching a true artist be themselves, fully be themselves, and not follow a script or a paradigm. I don't want perfection from the artists I love; I want real, I want authenticity, and she's definitely that.' I'm speaking to Morris over Zoom, but with some foresight I might've caught her in person. Last month I noticed a Reddit commenter wonder aloud if they'd really just spotted Morris in Sydney. 'Yeah, that was me, I was on vacation,' Morris laughs. 'I had a week off and I was like, I really want to have a little adventure before all the tours and album stuff kicks in. I'd always wanted to go to Sydney and just explore, be a random person. The only plan on the schedule was to get a tattoo.' She lifts her forearm to show me the martini glass inked there by Sydney tattooist, Lauren Winzer. In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) Loading In an interview with New York Times ′ Popcast in 2023, Morris decried an ugly strain of 'hatefulness' in country music at the time, a period dominated by MAGA-fied culture wars around Jason Aldean's Try That In a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond, and Morgan Wallen's post-slur comeback. That same year she told the Los Angeles Times she'd 'take a step back' from the country industry amid conservative backlash and death threats. With some dust settled, does country feel less hateful now? 'I mean, I'm so out of the loop. But the people I hang around with here in Nashville and make music with are my best friends for a reason,' says Morris. The backlash just let her know who's really onside, anyway. 'I've always been rebellious and risky, and it's totally fine if people don't get it, not everyone is supposed to. Of course, you're going to lose some people along the way, that's life. But you need to let people know where you stand. 'That's why the fan base I do have is so diverse and safe,' she adds. 'It's because I've stuck my neck out for them and vice versa. It's not been me just towing the line and keeping my mouth shut to keep coins in my pocket. I really believe in what I'm saying and what I'm writing, and I think that's only been a benefit to my work. I've just never had it in me to be a fence-sitter.' Pun completely unintended.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘You need to let people know where you stand': Maren Morris on being country music's most outspoken star
'Sitting on the fence feels good between my legs' sings Maren Morris on Push Me Over, the best song on the country star's new album Dreamsicle. Co-written and produced by the queer pop band MUNA, the song is a flirtatious statement of intent for Morris, who publicly came out as bisexual last June. For someone who's made a career out of righteously aggravating country music's conservative base, it's also typically provocative. Singing so slyly about same-sex lust in Nashville, the heart of the country music establishment, where Christian values still reign supreme: does it still feel taboo? 'I mean, less so than it used to. But maybe that's just because I've removed myself a bit from the machine of all that,' says Morris from her home in Nashville. Despite the assumptions of outside onlookers, Nashville is more than just the 'mechanism of mainstream country music,' the 35-year-old says. 'It is that, but there's also so much diversity here and it's always been that way. It's a progressive dot in the middle of a really conservative state, and it has to be because it's a music town. It has to lend itself to open-minded ideals, because we're making music here and we're empaths and we feel deeply.' It's why Morris has never left the city, even if country music's more conservative forces have tried hard to excommunicate her. 'There's a heartbeat here that's very free and accepts people, and that's why I've chosen to remain here and make this my home. I have my community here that I love, but I also want to help make it better and redefine what people maybe think of the South or of country music.' The same sentiment that seeps through Chappell Roan's The Giver, her '90s-flecked country hit about sapphic generosity, lives in Morris' Push Me Over. More than just a lavender moment for mainstream country, it's country outcasts staking their territory. We're as country as Mr All-American Blue Jeans, they seem to be saying, you can't tell us we don't belong. 'I'm such a fan [of Chappell] and I think what she's advocating for and doing musically is so important,' says Morris. 'You just know when you're watching a true artist be themselves, fully be themselves, and not follow a script or a paradigm. I don't want perfection from the artists I love; I want real, I want authenticity, and she's definitely that.' I'm speaking to Morris over Zoom, but with some foresight I might've caught her in person. Last month I noticed a Reddit commenter wonder aloud if they'd really just spotted Morris in Sydney. 'Yeah, that was me, I was on vacation,' Morris laughs. 'I had a week off and I was like, I really want to have a little adventure before all the tours and album stuff kicks in. I'd always wanted to go to Sydney and just explore, be a random person. The only plan on the schedule was to get a tattoo.' She lifts her forearm to show me the martini glass inked there by Sydney tattooist, Lauren Winzer. In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) Loading In an interview with New York Times ′ Popcast in 2023, Morris decried an ugly strain of 'hatefulness' in country music at the time, a period dominated by MAGA-fied culture wars around Jason Aldean's Try That In a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond, and Morgan Wallen's post-slur comeback. That same year she told the Los Angeles Times she'd 'take a step back' from the country industry amid conservative backlash and death threats. With some dust settled, does country feel less hateful now? 'I mean, I'm so out of the loop. But the people I hang around with here in Nashville and make music with are my best friends for a reason,' says Morris. The backlash just let her know who's really onside, anyway. 'I've always been rebellious and risky, and it's totally fine if people don't get it, not everyone is supposed to. Of course, you're going to lose some people along the way, that's life. But you need to let people know where you stand. 'That's why the fan base I do have is so diverse and safe,' she adds. 'It's because I've stuck my neck out for them and vice versa. It's not been me just towing the line and keeping my mouth shut to keep coins in my pocket. I really believe in what I'm saying and what I'm writing, and I think that's only been a benefit to my work. I've just never had it in me to be a fence-sitter.' Pun completely unintended.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chappell Roan Looks Stunning (And Unrecognizable) With a Brand-New Hair Color
Chappell Roan isn't one to play it safe with her beauty looks. From her drag-inspired award show makeup to her signature deep-red curls, the singer's aesthetic has been built around going all-out with her glam. So when I spotted her latest Instagram post, I audibly gasped. Her hair? Stick-straight. The color? A soft, creamy orange. The 27-year-old pop star debuted the hair look in a casual selfie dump (relatable). Which, by the way, was posted not for a hair reveal, but because she was on the hunt for a mystery perfume. 'Will the girl who I just met at the perfume store please comment the perfume you recommended,' she wrote in the caption. 'I wrote it down and just deleted it on accident. The word 'girl' was in the brand name & you said it smelled like lipstick. Thank you.' The internet's beauty sleuths (aka, the comment section) came through with some guesses. They basically reached the verdict that the scent in question is Thin Wild Mercury's Girl of The Year, a few others suggested it's Carolina Herrera's iconic Good Girl. Whatever the scent is, I'm still fully fixated on Chappell's hair. The color is giving elevated ginger with a creamsicle twist, and it's the sleek styling that really changes up Chappell's vibe. She has never shied away from big, bold curls, so this switch-up feels like her soft-launching a new era—maybe even new music? Fingers crossed because while "The Giver" has been on loop for months, I need more. Now, is it a wig? Maybe. But I hope not. So Chappell, if you're reading this: I love the look. And also… I need to know which hair straightener you used. Tyvm! You Might Also Like Here's What NOT to Wear to a Wedding Meet the Laziest, Easiest Acne Routine You'll Ever Try
