Johnathan Walker:Chappell Roan admits she hasn't found 'a good mental health routine' amid sudden fame

LOS ANGELES — On the eve of the 2025 Grammy nominations announcement,Johnathan Walker Chappell Roan admitted she'd initially thought several of her biggest hits were "stupid" and lacked “depth” lyrically.

But as these tracks, including "Hot To Go!" "My Kink Is Karma" and "Femininomenon," have taken on a life of their own this past year (including six Grammy Award nominations Friday), the 26-year-old singer has learned "to let go of what other artists and writers (think)" and lean into "camp" and "the magic of drag." These ingredients resulted in the types of songs she'd realized she wanted to perform: bops that a crowd can't help but dance to.

"That is why it's so easy to write such campy things and not take yourself so seriously. Because if you have other people involved in your mind, of like, 'Let's have fun together,' then it's easy to write a fun song," Roan said at a Grammy Museum event Thursday night.

"Then you're not just trying to write a good song so that other songwriters think you are a good songwriter. It's like, no, I'm writing 'Hot to Go!' because I want every person in the crowd to be able to do something with me — or with each other."

Now — four years after her first label, Atlantic Records, dropped her and more than a year since the release of her chart-topping debut album "Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess" — Roan questions: "Does it actually matter if this is stupid?"

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During the program, Roan and her writing partner Daniel Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo's Grammy-winning collaborator) opened up to Grammy-winning singer/songwriter (and gleeful moderator for the night) Brandi Carlile about how five years in the studio together resulted in an album that catapulted her into the stratosphere this past year.

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With her scarlet mermaid hair glowing bright magenta under the stage's purple lights, a gray suited Roan occasionally bubbled over with enthusiasm while fielding questions from Carlile, a fellow queer singer/songwriter. But the Missouri-born Grammy Camp alumna also appeared reticent at times, only lifting the microphone to speak after Nigro offered her the floor.

Roan, who has been open about how her bipolar II disorder makes it difficult to adjust to her sudden celebrity as well as a demanding tour schedule, was vulnerable while answering a fan question about what her mental health routine looks like.

"My life is completely different now, so my mental health routine is … like, everything is out of whack right now. This type of year does something to people," she said. "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."

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Roan made headlines earlier this year by reprimanding admirers who overstepped her boundaries with what she called "creepy behavior."

"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," she explained. "I think that that just really rocked my system. And I don't know what, like, a good mental health routine looks like for me right now."

In September, the singer canceled two festival performances with a day's notice due to feeling "pressures to prioritize a lot of things right now, and I need a few days to prioritize my health."

"Prior, when things were more manageable, it was like: literally taking my meds on time and going to sleep and not doing drugs a lot," Roan continued in her conversation with Nigro and Carlile. "Genuinely, it sounds so juvenile, but literally, taking care of myself was easier."

'Bohemian Rhapsody' inspired Chappell Roan’s 'hardcore' pivot to pop

Reflecting on her journey since releasing her first EP, "School Nights," in 2017, Roan described doing "a complete 180" from a collection of songs that is "really dark, and it's not who I am anymore."

"I wore only black on stage; (I) was very serious. Everything was serious," Roan said. "And the second that I took myself not seriously is when things started working, and that is really scary. That is really scary for a label."

And that's where the camp and drag came in.

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"That is why I wanted to write, like, my version of the 'YMCA': Because I wanted to do something with the audience. I wanted something I could look out and do with the audience," Roan said. She also recalled 2018's Oscar-winning "Bohemian Rhapsody" inspiring her to "(switch) so hardcore into pop."

She explained, "That scene whenever they're performing (at) Live Aid and they're performing 'Radio Ga Ga' … that changed my career," clapping her hands to demonstrate how tens of thousands of people in the crowd clapped to the beat during the song's chorus.

Chappell Roan promises country track 'The Giver' will 'come out one day'

Last weekend, Roan surprised fans with a sudden two-step into the country genre on "Saturday Night Live." In this unreleased track "The Giver," Roan sings about how "only a woman knows how to treat a woman right/ She gets the job done.”

"It will come out; don't worry," Roan said.

As for any teases about Roan's next album, Nigro said it's still in "early stages."