‘Pink Pony Club’ – one of Chappell Roan‘s biggest hits – was nearly blocked from being released by her previous label, the artist has revealed.
In 2020, Chappell Roan released the single ‘Pink Pony Club’ via Atlantic Records. A few months later, she was dropped by the label. Last year, she released her debut album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’ via Island and Amusement Records – ‘Pink Pony Club’ featured on the record and would go on to become one of her most popular hits.
However, that wasn’t always the case, as the singer-songwriter revealed in a new feature with Rolling Stone that Atlantic Records were firmly against her releasing the song. She recalled that the label had tried to dissuade her from putting the song out as it was a big departure from her previous sound.
“I was so devastated,” she told the publication. “It made me second-guess myself.” The initial reaction to the song was positive, but only blew up properly in 2023 after the release of her debut album. She and co-producer Nigro recalled fighting for the song to be pushed via Atlantic, as they had strongly believed that it would connect with a larger audience.
Now that the song’s a global hit, Roan back to believing in her instincts: “It feels so good to prove them wrong because they weren’t just a little wrong. 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.”
Elsewhere during the chat, she revealed that her sophomore album’s shaping up nicely, and that she’s already completed five or six tracks for the record: “We have a country song. We have a dancy song. We have one that’s really Eighties, and we have one that’s acoustic, and we have one that’s really organic, live-band, Seventies vibe. It’s super weird.”
Credit: Kristen Jan Wong for NME
The NME cover star released her debut studio album, ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’, last September to critical acclaim. In a four-star review, NME described it as “a display of Roan’s bold and brazen pen, where she places searing revelations alongside some deliciously cheeky choruses”.
Since then, she achieved her first UK Number One album almost a year after its release – something Elton John congratulated her on recently. Roan shared the single ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ this April. The song went to Number Four in the UK, and was covered by Sabrina Carpenter in the BBC Live Lounge in June.
Chappell Roan has gone on to experience a meteoric rise to fame and last month drew in the largest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history, as confirmed by Lolla reps.
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