80s-tinged electro and alt-pop act Chappell Roan is one of the fast-rising acts of 2024. Alongside Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan has been blowing up in her little corner of worldwide attention.

Chappell Roan (real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) is a 26-year-old Missouri native who is doing everything right for herself so far. Her 2023 album “The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess” firmly places Roan as one the best young pop acts in the American music scene (therefore the world) with fan-fave hits such as “Red Wine Supernova,” and the pop-by-way-of-Kate-Bush-styled “Hot To Go!” And while Chappell Roan is no doubt a pop act at heart, crossing her brand of synthpop infused sound with other styles such as moody alternative like on “Casual,” and pop rock on “Pink Pony Club” kept her audiences guessing and interested. It also helps that Chappell Roan is a flamboyant performer with a style that sets her apart from her glam-prepped contemporaries. That is if you call period piece costumes, drag-inspired couture and her knack for D.I.Y. style pegs is your definition of flamboyant. 

Music critics have generally praised Chappell Roan’s “The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess” album as one of the best of 2023 and we concur. The album certainly deserves a deeper listening with tracks such as album opener “Femininomenon” with its synth-heavy pop sonics, club bobbing “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl,” the new wave sounding synths of “Naked In Manhattan,” and brooding songs such as “My Kink Is Karma,” “California,” and the acoustic guitar adorned pop amalgam of “Guilty Pleasure,” warranting extra listens.

Chappell Roan’s success can also be attributed to hard touring support behind her album. But prior to that she has opened as a supporting act to main stars, in particular Olivia Rodrigo on the latter’s Guts World Tour. Said tour eventually had a stop at Coachella wherein Roan performed.

The performance was a timely one after her most recent single “Good Luck, Babe” was released. The track is a timely song about a one-way, non-committed relationship prone to self-afflicted hurt, wrapped in lo-fi~ish synth pop and Chappell Roan’s rumored soprano range vocals peppered with Kate Bush-isms. “Good Luck, Babe” easily zoomed close to half-a-billion streams in one platform alone. And as we await what’s next from Chappell Roan, all indications point that the singer-songwriter-performer will be sticking around indefinitely.  

Stell steps out from his main vocalist and lead dancer duties of the acclaimed P-pop group SB19 as he doubles down on his journey as a solo artist with the release of his first solo EP titled “Room.”

 The five-song set is driven by the single “Di Ko Masabi.” A piano-decked ballad about “unsaid feelings of longing and uncertainty, quietly felt  but never spoken,” the song sees Stell with his soaring vocals front and center in the spotlight. This moving ballad, adorned with strings, and a surging full band, is written by National Artist for music, Mr. Ryan Cayabyab.

Meanwhile other tracks in “Room” stays true to Stell’s leanings as a P-pop music act. With the previously released EP-titled “Room” already setting the bar, other tracks such as “Classic” adds to the dance and club leanings of Stell. The latter features Warner Music act MAX (Max Schneider). Completing the EP album is another piano-decked ballad in the gospel-like inspirations of “Anino” written by Stell’s fellow SB19 member Pablo, and a stripped down, strings-laden, acoustic guitar pumping version of “Room.”