Your Favorite Artist’s Favorite Artist Chappell Roan Makes Blazing VMAs Debut with ‘Good Luck, Babe!’

Chappell Roan isn’t just a Midwest princess — she’s a medieval one. The musician made her debut at the MTV Video Music Awards in front of a castle set, foreshadowed by her arrival on the red carpet with a sword and a medieval guard. Roan shot a flaming arrow at the castle on stage, setting it ablaze as she launched into “Good Luck Babe” from The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

While guards battled with swords of their own all around her, Roan sang through the violence and the smoke from the flames. In her ancient armor, she dropped to her knees and belted out the iconic “Good Luck Babe” bridge. “When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night/With your head in your hands, you’re nothing more than his wife,” she sang. “And when you think about me, all of those years ago/You’re standing face to face with I told you so.”

Sasha Colby, your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen, introduced Roan’s performance with a moving speech fit for your favorite singer’s favorite singer. “Pop music is inclusive. No matter who you love, it’s meant for everyone,” she said. “And no one has revitalized that spirit more than this next artist. You have all watched her blow up. The Midwest Princess is in the house. Your favorite drag queen’s favorite artist, here is my daughter: Chappell Roan.”

Roan is one of three finalists for Best New Artist at this year’s VMAs. She faces off with Gracie Abrams and Tyla. The singer earned nominations for MTV Push Performance of the Year for her March 2024 performance of “Red Wine Supernova” and Best Trending Video for “Hot to Go!” She was also up for one of the biggest awards of the night, Song of the Summer, for “Good Luck, Babe!”
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Roan is also Rolling Stone‘s October 2024 cover star. In the interview, the singer reflected on all of the people, both inside and outside of the music industry, who didn’t believe in her as she was transforming into the pop supernova she had emerged. “It feels so good to prove them wrong because they weren’t just a little wrong,” she said. “They were really, really, really wrong. To know that my gut instinct was right is the best feeling in the world. Purposeful revenge does not feel good, but revenge by accident feels awesome.”

And for anyone who thought she built the foundation of this pop empire — and the blazing castle around it — overnight, she had a message for you, too: “What’s so infuriating is how people are just now taking me seriously. Like, ‘You know what, bitch? I’ve been doing this shit and you’re just now catching up.’ ”