LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 02: Chappell Roan accepts the Best New Artist award onstage … [+]
Midwest princess Chappell Roan is now officially a Grammy winner. The 26-year-old received the award for Best New Artist on Sunday, Feb. 2, and she used her acceptance speech to urge record labels to provide better support for their artists.
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I got signed as a minor. 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.”
She continued, “Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection… Labels, we got you, but do you got us?”
Roan beat out fellow rising stars in the category – including Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii, Shaboozey, Teddy Swims, Benson Boone, Khruangbin and Raye.
The “Red Wine Supernova” singer earned six nominations at the 67th annual Grammy Awards – including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist and Album of the Year for Midwest Princess. Roan is also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Good Luck, Babe.”
The Missouri native also took the stage earlier in the night to perform her hit “Pick Pony Club” from her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Although she won the Best New Artist award, Roan has spent the past decade trying to break into the music industry. She first gained attention on YouTube and was signed to Atlantic Records in 2015 but was dropped in August 2020. During the following two years, while her single “Pink Pony Club” began to gain traction, she worked odd jobs to make ends meet. In early 2022, she secured a publishing deal with Sony.
In 2023, Roan launched her Naked in North America tour and dropped singles like “Hot to Go!” and “Red Wine Supernova.” She later released her chart-topping album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess ahead of her second Midwest Princess tour. In 2024, she took music festivals by storm, drawing one of the largest crowds in Lollapalooza history and breaking attendance records.
The 67th Grammy Awards are being held at the Crypto.com Arena in L.A. See the full list of winners so far here.
