When Chappell Roan steps onto the Laneway Festival ’26 stage this summer, it won’t just be a headline set, it will be a cultural moment.
In what seems a blink of an eye, the Missouri-born, LA-based pop powerhouse has erupted from cult favourite to global phenomenon, claiming six Grammy nominations, sparking a worldwide dance craze, and becoming, according to the critics, “your favourite artist’s favourite artist”. For the first time, she’s bringing her technicolour, queer-joy pageantry to Aotearoa.
“Chappell Roan is the artist of the moment – she’s bold, theatrical and completely herself, and bringing her to Aotearoa for the very first time feels huge,” she says festival director, Jessie Parker. “We can’t wait to see the outfits, the signs, the glitter. Auckland is about to be transformed.”
Chappell Roan knows a thing or two about transformation, of course. Growing up in Willard, Missouri, Chappell repressed feelings about her sexuality. After winning her school talent show at age 13, she first gained confidence to pursue her dreams of being a performer. At 16, she released ‘Die Young’, a brooding folk song that brought her a major label record deal, leading to her 2017 debut EP, School Nights, and her move to LA in 2018. “Back then, I liked being mysterious and serious,” says the singer.
Now, her music bursts with big emotions and big pop hooks that’s turned her into a generational star. After releasing her acclaimed debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess in 2023, she set off a full-blown cultural wave. Six of its tracks charted on the Hot 100, while ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ became the song of 2024, topping global year-end lists and making her a household name. Her Grammy-night performance of the 2020 sleeper hit ‘Pink Pony Club’ – about a small-town girl who finds belonging at a West Hollywood go-go bar, inspired by Chappell’s real-life experiences in LA – cemented her ascent.
“I wanted to prove that women in pop are multi-dimensional,” says Chappell. “It’s important for me to show that I’m not just some sexy pop star, I wallow in pain just as much as the next girl.”
For the first time, she’s bringing her technicolour, queer-joy pageantry to Aotearoa.
Her willingness to be vulnerable – not to mention loudly, joyfully queer – has made her a beacon for fans who see themselves in her glitter-streaked fabulousness.
“I’m just trying to honour my inner child who thought she wasn’t worth anything,” says Chappell, “and prove to her that she actually is a really good person.”
After opening for Olivia Rodrigo on the GUTS tour, and selling out her own US, UK and European shows in minutes, she’s now teasing her next era. ‘The Giver’, the lesbian country anthem she debuted on SNL, became an instant fan favourite – and a reminder that she isn’t here to play by genre rules any more than she plays by societal ones. Her sets at Coachella, Governors Ball and Lollapalooza – the latter drawing a record-breaking 110,000 people – showed a performer drawing stadium-sized devotion long before she’s even filled one herself.
Which is precisely why Laneway Festival ’26 feels like such a coup.
“Auckland really does have some of the best music fans in the world – cool, kind, down to earth people who show up, know every lyric, and set the tone for the whole tour,” Jessie tells Verve. “It’s why Laneway Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau is always one of our favourite days.”
The Laneway Festival audience is tailor-made for an artist whose shows have become a kind of participatory theatre. Expect western-glam costumes. Expect handmade signs. Expect the “HOT TO GO!” routine breaking out in every corner of the festival. And expect tears – and glitter! – everywhere.
For Chappell Roan, the stage is a playground, a protest, a drag bar, a diary entry, a neon-pink chapel where pop’s rules don’t apply. And for one ecstatic evening this summer, all of that will land right here, in Tāmaki Makaurau, for the very first time.
Laneway Festival ’26 isn’t just getting a headliner. It’s getting a movement. We’ll see you there.
Find out more at lanewayfestival.com/auckland
