It's Chappell Roan's world and we're just living in it.
The pop sensation made her debut at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday night at the UBS Arena in New York and her anticipated performance did not disappoint. The singer performed her breakout hit "Good Luck, Babe!" dressed as a medieval knight in Dr. Marten boots (or armored princess, perhaps?) and kicked off her time onstage by lighting a gilded castle behind her on fire with a steel crossbow. Needless to say, it was pure pop drama—something that's been missing from the VMAs for quite some time. Maybe not since Lady Gaga's 2009 performance of Paparazzi has there been so much hype surrounding a pop star's performance and what all will come afterward. If Roan's music festival crowds and already sold out headlining tour is any sign however, she's only going up from here.
Roan hinted on the red carpet ahead of the start of the show that her middle-aged gothic Y-Project look was a clue to what was to come during her debut performance. The star works with stylist Genesis Webb, who previously spoke with Harper's Bazaar about their shared approach to curating Roan's on-stage style.
“She cultivates such a huge queer space—obviously, having drag queens open—and it’s just such an amazing and safe experience,” Webb says. ‘And then I think just adding on the ’90s, ’80s, also queer references to bring it all together just works really well, and gives it the ability to jump across generations.”
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
