Chappell Roan Is Pop’s Knight in Shining Armor in Her First MTV VMAs Performance

Chappell Roan just proved why she’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist. At her first-ever MTV VMAs tonight, she delivered a stunning performance of her hit “Good Luck, Babe!,” complete with a theatrical concept and a little bit of fire. After a glowing intro from drag legend Sasha Colby, Roan emerged on the stage wearing armor and chainmail, surrounded by backup dancers dressed as knights, and shot a crossbow into the towering castle set behind her before breaking out into song.

Speaking to MTV on the red carpet earlier tonight, Roan said of her set, “I am nervous, there area lot of technical things going on that I've never had happen. But I feel like this is the next step in my career, so I was like, ‘Dang, okay, it feels good to be here.’” But she pulled it off, delivering an immersive, imaginative, and fairytale-like performance unlike any of the others we saw this evening.

Roan has had a meteoric rise in the past year, especially following the release of her album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, last September. Since then, her profile has only continued to rise with the release of “Good Luck, Babe!,” festival performances at Coachella and Gov Ball, and widespread buzz on social media and from fellow musicians. But with her stellar VMAs set, she makes her message clear: believe the hype.

Roan is up for four MTV VMA awards tonight. The singer is nominated for Best New Artist, Best Trending Video (“HOT TO GO!”), Song of the Summer (“Good Luck, Babe!”), and MTV Push Performance of the Year (“Red Wine Supernova”).

Roan spoke to Rolling Stone in an interview released earlier this week about her shock over her music’s sudden surge. “I was getting almost a hundred thousand followers a day. At first, I was in severe denial,” she said. “They would literally show me some stats and the only thing I could do is say, ‘No, no, no. It’s not like that.’ I couldn’t say, ‘I am gaining success.’”

While Roan is just now becoming a household name, her career is a decade old. “What’s so infuriating is how people are just now taking me seriously,” she said. “Like, ‘You know what, bitch? I’ve been doing this shit, and you’re just now catching up.’”

Still, the attention she’s getting has been a lot to take in: “Part of me hopes I never have a hit again because then no one will ever expect anything from me again,” she said quietly, then added that regardless of her nervousness, she is very much in this. “It’s my dream job,” she said. “I never know if it’s going to be like this ever again, which is kind of scary.”

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