Bowen Yang tried to get Chappell Roan on Saturday Night Live long before her career blew up.
Yang chatted with the “Red Wine Supernova” singer for Interview Magazine this week, revealing that he’s a card-carrying member of the Pink Pony Club — and that he tried to get Roan on SNL during the 2023-24 season. Last fall, Roan performed two dates at Brooklyn Steel, a venue with a capacity of 1,800, which must seem quaint to the singer now. But even months before attending those performances, Yang said that he had been texting the SNL bookers, saying, “There’s this girl, Chappell Roan. I think she’d be incredible for the show.”
Yang further revealed that not only did he “play hooky for the first time” to go see Roan, but additionally, “The next night, my friends were like, ‘We’re going,’ and I was like, ‘Well, I’m going again.’”
“I saw you two nights in a row and I have no regrets,” he continued.
Elsewhere in the interview, Roan told Yang that she “never really expected [my career] to grow this big,” and that she felt as though she “peaked a couple of years ago” when she sold out Bowery Ballroom, a 600-person Manhattan venue. “It’s been amazing to do bigger shows, and open for Olivia [Rodrigo], but everything right now is truly icing on the cake,” she said. “Me trying to navigate this, I feel very supported. Because I’ve never not been myself. I’m really glad the persona that I have, the drag version, is still very much me.”
Roan also reflected on her unusual career timeline. Her 2023 album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess “exploded within a matter of four weeks,” as the singer said, following her instantly legendary Coachella performance, where she debuted “Good Luck, Babe!”
“All of a sudden I had an album charting that came out in September,” she said. While Yang agreed that her come-up is “not the timeline that makes sense to anybody,” the singer said, “My career has worked because I’ve done it my way, and I’ve not compromised morals and time.”
“I have not succumbed to the pressure,” Roan added. “Like, ‘Bitch! I’m not doing a brand deal if it doesn’t feel right. I don’t care how much you’re paying me.’ That’s why I can sleep at night.”
And Roan really puts her money where her mouth is. During her performance at the Governors Ball music festival in New York this June, the singer revealed that she had turned down a Pride-themed performance at the White House. While in full drag as Lady Liberty, she said, “We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
To cheers from the crowd, Roan added, “That means freedom in trans rights. That means freedom in women’s rights. It especially means freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories.”
Roan told Yang that her Gov Ball performance was “really hard.”
“It was hard to be like, ‘I’m going to say something that a lot of my family is going to be like, ‘Wow, you crossed the line,’” she said, presumably a reference to the above statement. “It’s emotional because I believe what I said, and what’s sad is that me believing in who I am, and what I stand for, rubs against a lot of my home.”
We can’t help but stan a principled Midwest Princess. And SNL bookers, if you’re reading this, please give us the Chappell Roan performance we so desperately need.
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