The life of a celebrity is unpredictable. Their success, relevancy, and work are all subjects. Most celebrities, including singers, are heavily evaluated on the size of their fanbase. This means public opinion of a celebrity is important to their worth and success. In this article, we will look at the case of Chappell Roan and discuss the difference in careers for singers who rise to fame quickly versus those who have a slow and steady rise.
Chappell Roan is a 26-year-old singer-songwriter from Missouri. Her music is often referred to as “camp,” as she heavily draws on a hyper-pop version of 80s synth music. She released her first big hit in 2020. She shares the same producer as Olivia Rodrigo, Dan Nigro, and is now an opener for the Guts World Tour. Her music is currently trending on TikTok.
Sabrina Carpenter is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter and actress, who has been in the public eye for quite some time. She rose to fame ten years ago, when she starred on the Disney Channel show “Girl Meets World.” At the same time, she started her music career. Every since, she has being growing in fame. Most recently, she opened for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour.
Sabrina Carpenter has had a slow, progressive rise to fame. With each album she released she gain a little more fame. She expanded her fanbase bit by bit. Today, she is on the rise to be one of the decades most prominent pop girlies.
Carpenter is an example of slow success. She grew her audience through working year after year to gain popularity. Because of her now loyal audience and her ability to gain popularity, she has the potential to keep growing. Taylor Swift in another example of a slow rise. With each album and tour, Swift becomes more popular. But what about singers who gain popularity more quickly?
Let’s take Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish as examples. Both artists received massive success from their debut albums. Olivia Rodrigo’s first album, “Sour,” seemed to propel Rodrigo into a A-lister status in a very short time span. A lot of Rodrigo’s music was trending on TikTok as well as clips from her tour. However, according to Billboard Rodrigo’s first and second album had pretty similar units moved, which we can infer as the performed similarly. This means that from the debut of her first to her second album, Rodrigo did not gain a noticeable amount of fame. Similarly, Billie Eilish received a lot of success from her first two albums, but from her third album did not chart nearly as well as her first two. For reference, according to the Billboard Hot 100 charts, only one out of her top ten song was from her third album, with eight being from her first two albums.
Now, this is not to say that singers such as Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish aren’t successful or have good music, but do they have the potential to become more popular? Or did they already reach their peak? Rodrigo and Eilish are by no means irrelevant, but it’s hard to tell if their quick success will be helpful or harmful in the long run.
Let’s go back to Chappell Roan and the main question: will she succeed? As stated earlier, the career of celebrities are unpredictable, but let’s examine some likely outcomes.
Chappell Roan is in an interesting place, because she has had a fast and slow rise to fame. Because of TikTok, her songs are trending. However, she is early enough in her career where she could use this to gain a loyal fanbase and have a steady rise to fame. If she pushes out music that fans deem inauthentic or stop liking, then perhaps she this will be her peak. But if she continues to write music true to herself that fans continue to enjoy, chances are she will continue to grow.