Why did Atlantic Records drop Chappell Roan? Singer addresses record labels in her speech after winning Best New Artist at the Grammys

Chappell Roan won her first Grammy, Best New Artist, at Sunday's 67th Annual Grammy Awards. The singer was nominated alongside Sabrina Carpenter, Benson Boone, Doechii, Khruangbin, RAYE, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims.

As per her interview with Rolling Stone in September 2024, Chapell Roan's manager, Nick Bobetsky, introduced her to Daniel Nigro in 2018. He's a writer-producer who has worked with singers like Sky Ferreira, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Kylie Minogue.

According to the interview, the duo created the hit song Pink Pony Club. Atlantic Records discouraged Chappell Roan from releasing it, assuming such music wouldn't perform well. The song was released in April 2020. The response wasn't good enough, and her label dropped her. After the interview was released, Atlantic Labels did not confirm or deny Roan's statement.

In an interview with BBC, Roan said her label couldn't understand her music. She said,

"They were like, 'This is not gonna work. We don't get it.'"

In her Grammy acceptance speech, Chappell Roan demanded that music labels pay their artists livable wages and healthcare. She expressed how Atlantic Records signed her when she was a minor, and when they dropped her during the pandemic, it was devastating for her. She said,

"I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists."

She continued,

"Because I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor, and when I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt and, like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance."

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Chappell Roan's career after Atlantic Records dropped her

67th Annual GRAMMY Awards - Show (Image via Getty)

Chappell Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, was signed by Atlantic Records in 2016 when she was 17. In her Rolling Stone interview, she talked about how Nigro and she fought for the song Pink Pony Club. The Atlantic Records' discouragement made her second-guess.

"I was so devastated. It made me second-guess myself," said Roan.

In 2020, she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and came back to her home in Missouri. She shared in a BBC interview that she worked in a drive-through back home, and it was a positive experience for her.

"It absolutely had a positive impact on me. You have the knowledge of what it's like to clean a public restroom. That's very important."

Chappell Roan became an independent artist and, in 2021, started working with Daniel Nigro again. Her song Pink Pony Club started gaining popularity through TikTok, and in 2022, she opened for Olivia Rodrigo's Sour tour.

In 2023, Nigro signed Chappell Roan as his first artist on his label, Island Records. Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, performed well on the charts, reaching No. 1 in the UK Official Albums Chart.

Many songs from her debut album, Femininomenon, Red Wine Supernova, Casual, HOT TO GO!, and Naked In Manhattan, performed well on the charts and went viral on TikTok.

In the Rolling Stone interview, she expressed her satisfaction with her success and said she was glad she had proved her former label wrong, calling Pink Pony Club's success "revenge by accident."

"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."

Chappell Roan made headlines last year for her viral TikTok, where she called out her fans for their "crazy behavior," claiming some fans allegedly stalked her parents and harassed them. In the video, she said,

"I don't care that abuse and harassment is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous. I don't care that it's normal. I don't care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job and the career field I've chosen. That does not make it OK."

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Although it is unconfirmed when the singer's next album will drop, Chappell Roan told Rolling Stone in September 2024 that she has already made five or six songs with Daniel Nigro.