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This piece is from the CU Independent’s opinion section. Any opinions or views do not represent the CU Independent.
Rhett Kaya: From TikTok trends to the latest Taylor Swift album, there is always something CU Boulder students are obsessing over, opinionated about or adding to their vernacular. The Culture Critic will keep you up to date with the latest in entertainment and popular culture through content reviews, analysis and my self-proclaimed professional opinion.
There is a stacked group of Album of the Year nominees at this year’s Grammy Awards. From Sabrina Carpenter’s sultry “Short n’ Sweet” to Charli XCX’s critically acclaimed “Brat”, there is no clear winner and the increasingly toxic “stan” culture will cause a ruckus no matter the outcome. Fans particularly love to pit music legends Swift and Beyoncé against each other—meanwhile, XCX has garnered a strong cult following determined to see the 365 Party Girl go gold.
But what does winning Album of the Year mean? It appears the Recording Academy is also confused based on the slate of previous winners. Taylor Swift’s win for “Midnights” in February 2024 led to immense controversy, as many, myself included, felt her tenth album was subpar in comparison to SZA and Lana Del Rey’s respective nominations. Swift didn’t make the most critically acclaimed album of the year, but she did make the most potent one. “Midnights” reflects the peak of a colossal career climb that started with her previous Album of the Year win for “folklore” in 2021. Beyond the thirteen tracks on “Midnights” is Swift’s gargantuan Eras Tour, her passion project (the Taylor’s Version records), and utter dominance on the charts. “Midnights” was an extremely flawed record yet a perfect encapsulation of the year it represented.
This go-around, “Brat” is the obvious Album of the Year based on quality. Songs like “360” and “Von Dutch” have solidified XCX’s precision and confidence as a musician. Per usual, Swift would be the front-runner based on chart success, and Beyoncé may benefit from or suffer from the elephant in the room caused by her consistent snubs. Considering this diverse yet competitive set of nominees, perhaps the solution is choosing the least divisive, an artist whose rise to stardom through both quality and cultural relevance has unfolded throughout 2024: everyone’s new obsession, the Midwest Princess herself, Chappell Roan.
Roan’s debut record, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” was released in the second half of 2023, skimming the beginning of this year’s eligibility period. Roan’s pop record details her experiences as a queer young adult grappling with the old-fashioned expectations of the Midwest and the urge to be her authentic queer self, or, as Roan might say, dance at the “Pink Pony Club.” Roan’s brash humor and unabashed horniness colorize her candid lyricism while producer Dan Nigro successfully adorns the record with a beat-driven, triumphant and downright fun exterior.
Roan followed this near-perfect record, muddled by the slightly underwhelming “Guilty Pleasure” and “California,” with the even stronger single: “Good Luck, Babe!” All the nominees cover personal and often powerful topics on their records, but the simplicity in Roan’s Kate Bush-esque ballad is the most piercing. “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” is one of the most cut-and-dry yet raw ways to formulate queerness with added brilliance as audiences interpret the line as celebratory or heartbreaking depending on their personal relationship with their sexuality. “Good Luck, Babe!” highlights the tragedy of both fighting one’s sexuality and watching someone else do so.
“Good Luck, Babe!” only accentuates themes of self-acceptance, community, and queer identity potent on “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” The ability for an album so unapologetically queer to garner such a wide audience works as a real-time barometer for a changing culture. It’s not just queer people at Roan’s concerts but, as Taylor Swift would say, the “dads, Brads and Chads,” as well, joyously partaking in the “HOT TO GO!” dance and singing along to “Pink Pony Club”. Roan’s record succeeds in delivering continuous hits, unseen since the likes of Taylor Swift’s “1989”, Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and most recently, Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia”. While Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” remains a staple of its time more than fifteen years later, it feels right to see an openly out lesbian singing songs of a similar subject matter.
Despite a roaring consensus that Roan’s music lives up to the crowd size, an array of controversies, including her hesitation to support 2024 presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her boundary-setting with fans, have accompanied Roan’s rise to fame. The singer’s refusal to don the unspoken media training mask has caught a lot of fans and spectators in trivial internet arguments. In a culture obsessed with turning celebrities into martyrs for our performative activism, it’s refreshing to see someone stand so firmly by her decisions. She’s not interested in polishing her image for our consumption; rather, the opposite (the most apt comparison between her and Lady Gaga).
Perhaps Roan’s biggest competitor is previous pop ingenue Billie Eilish, whose third album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft”, received rave reviews and birthed one of the year’s biggest hits in “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” Eilish previously became the youngest artist to win the accolade at the 62nd Grammys for “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” Praised as a contemporary risk, Eilish’s electric debut felt fresh compared to Lana Del Rey’s more vintage-sounding “Norman Fucking Rockwell”. Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” and Charli XCX’s “Brat” are the clear innovators this season, but Eilish’s ability to usurp Del Rey’s magnum opus should secure her a strong chance.
With Eilish’s historic 2020 win and Swift’s four Album of the Year wins, it would be easy to dismiss Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4” and André 3000’s “New Blue Sun”. But the category’s substantial pop showing might hurt its nominees in the chance of a split vote. Some theorized this “pop girl split” occurred between Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and Doja Cat in 2022 when Jon Batiste won for “We Are”. There’s a chance Beyoncé could benefit from this and take home her first Album of the Year award for her country record, “Cowboy Carter”, but voters could also choose to loop her into the pop category, allowing one of the more unassuming nominees to take the accolade.
In a year full of master-class pop music, handing the award to 3000 or Collier would feel unrepresentative, but maybe that’s the answer. Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX all had breakout years with albums that defined the culture and musical landscape. Maybe their prize is heightened success, and ours is three new artists and a slew of quality music added to our library. But Roan’s literal rise and occasional falls mirror both the imperfections and revelries detailed on her record. From the moment she stepped foot on the Coachella Gobi stage, she cemented herself as an icon, and she deserves a gold-gilded Grammy to show for it.
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Rhett Kaya at Rhett.Kaya@colorado.edu.
