Missouri’s Chappell Roan wins Grammy for Best New Artist, slams record labels in speech
Missouri’s Chappell Roan had a big night at the Grammy Awards, where she won Best New Artist and used her acceptance speech to challenge record labels to treat their music artists better.
She also performed her hit, “Pink Pony Club,” in her debut performance at the show, considered music’s biggest night, on Sunday.
“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 in an industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists,” Roan, 26, said to applause and a standing ovation from the audience in Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“Because I got signed so young, 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.
“It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have health (coverage). And if my label would prioritize artist health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to. So 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?”
Before she performed “Pink Pony Club,” Roan paid tribute to the city she said gave her the “courage to be herself.”
“My first performance was at my eighth grade talent show and I played piano and sang, and I got first place and I was like, ‘Wait, am I good at this?’” Roan said in a taped introduction.
“I grew up in southwest Missouri in a small town called Willard. I felt very isolated and felt like I was never good enough because I was gay. I think my younger self really needed a girl like me to look up to.”
Roan was inspired to write “Pink Pony Club” after visiting a gay bar in West Hollywood, California, called The Abbey in 2018.
“’Pink Pony Club’ is my love letter to L.A.” she said. “I love this city. L.A. gave me the courage to be myself because ultimately it is where I feel most free.”
After the devastating California wildfires, the Grammys show was reformatted to raise money for the victims and to honor first responders and others assisting in the recovery.
This story was originally published February 2, 2025 at 9:34 PM.
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