New pop icon Olivia Rodrigo holds court at a sold-out TD Garden in Boston for two shows tonight and Tuesday (April 1 and 2), but readers of Vanyaland can easily predict our suggestion to get there early for Chappell Roan. No stranger to our hot-to-go pink digital pages, Roan is now getting the glow-up she deserves, with features on MTV and in mainstream media, and a fresh plug on Marshalls’ new “Quality Obsessed” televison campaign.
Before she takes over the city at next month’s Boston Calling, Roan plays the city’s big barn this week, showing off last year’s Album of the Year in The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The alt-pop rhinestone cowgirl comet from Missouri, who in a few years (maybe sooner, like now) will likely be recognized as one of our generation’s greatest and most thrilling songwriters, dropped the record — which feels like it’s of the greatest hits variety — back in September via Amusement/Island Records.
We dub it a greatest hits record because it’s exactly that, as the album pulls together Roan’s breathtaking series of ultra-magnetic, sex-positive, queer-highlighted singles since 2020 — including the theatrical “Red Wine Supernova,” rambunctious “Pink Pony Club,” and hook-up culture yearner “Casual.” Toss in neon-glow tracks like “Kaleidoscope,” “Naked In Manhattan,” and tough-to-spell, easy-to-say “Femininomenon,” and the whole thing — plus the cheery “HOT TO GO” and all the new bops like “After Midnight” and the Marshalls-tapped “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” — shapes up to be a defining release for this era. It’s a whirlwind record that gets better with every listen.
Roan will be back next month for the big festival, but for this week at least, head to the Garden for Olivia, and walk out onto Causeway all dolled up for Chappell.
OLIVIA RODRIGO + CHAPPELL ROAN :: Monday, April 1 and Tuesday, April 2 at TD Garden, 100 Legends Way in Boston, MA :: 7:30 p.m., all ages, sold out :: Event info and tickets
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