Four months is a long time in the music business. When Chappell Roan completed her scheduled support dates on Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour back in April, she was critically-acclaimed but still bubbling under. Now, after scoring a huge hit with Good Luck, Babe!, she’s a bonafide star, and her slow-burning album - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - has become a chart-topper.
All of which makes Roan’s guest appearance on the Guts tour last night in LA feel like something of a victory lap. No longer the support act, she was invited on stage by Rodrigo to duet on Hot To Go, a Midwest Princess highlight.
Acknowledging their history, Rodrigo introduced her by telling the audience, “I’ve known this next artist for about four years now. And two years ago she actually opened on the Sour tour in San Francisco, and I was so lucky to have her open for me on a lot of the Guts World Tour dates earlier this year.”
“I absolutely adore her,” Rodrigo continued. “I think she is one of the most singular, inspiring, powerful artists I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and I’m so excited, because she’s going to sing one of my favourite songs of all time with me tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome to the stage, my friend, Chappell Roan!”
Cue a rapturous reception and a warm embrace, after which Roan told the crowd: “We’re going to sing a song, and we’re going to teach you a dance.”
Following a brief breakdown of the routine, the duo were indeed Hot To Go, trading lines and mirroring moves throughout the song.
The connection between the two artists goes beyond friendship and live performance; Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and Rodrigo’s Sour and Guts all feature Dan Nigro as a co-writer and producer. In fact, although Roan’s album was only released in 2023, she actually began working with Nigro as long ago as 2018, before he produced Rodrigo’s Sour, which was released in 2021.
Discussing the writing and recording of Roan's Good Luck, Babe! earlier this year, Nigro admitted that “It's a song we wrestled with for a while. We laid down a demo, and the two of us felt like it wasn't right. We knew something was special about the song, but we couldn't tell what it was that we were getting wrong.”
Nigro and Roan eventually decided that they needed to have some of the words in the song's standout chorus sung "in full voice", also adding a bridge.
Describing his partnership with Roan, Nigro says: “I think the important thing is that she's incredibly articulate about what she wants out of a song, and we have a great relationship when it comes to creating music."
