Chappell Roan, 26, grew up in a strict Christian household and thought music videos were 'porn' before launching her singing career as an LGBTQ icon - as Gen Z compare her to Madonna

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Chappell Roan has been dubbed 'Gen Z's Madonna' as fans have been won over by her powerhouse vocals, experimental costumes and theatrical performances.

The rising sensation has sparked comparisons with the 80s icon on social media, with many citing her bold fashion, retro ballads and fierce stage presence as emulating the 'Queen of Pop'. 

TikToker @waitingforthehook compared the singer's performance on Jimmy Fallon live with Madonna's MTV VMA performance of Like A Virgin in 1984, writing both had the 'same energy'.

'History repeats itself,' the caption added, as footage showed both women donned in eccentric all-white ensembles dominate the stage.

Elsewhere, sharing a carousel of the star's make-up looks, social media user @allthatglittersissour called Chappell 'the next Madonna'. 

Chappell Roan has been dubbed 'Gen Z's Madonna ' as fans have been won over by her powerhouse vocals, experimental costumes and theatrical performances

The images harked back to the 80s icon - who, along with Cyndi Lauper - was renowned for her bold eyeshadow and bright lipstick. 

In another video, influencers Terry and Kaniyia - who react to vocalists - were blown away by their listening to Chappell's hit Good Luck, Babe!

Fans rushed to the comments to make comparisons with other superstars known for their remarkable stage presence and songwriting talents - including Kate Bush and Taylor Swift. 

One also offered: 'She is our generation's Madonna.' 

People on X also appear torn on exactly which 80s icon Chappell reminds them of, due to the nostalgia her music harks for the decade, with its synth heavy melodies and retro vocals. 

'My mom always gets so happy when i put on pink pony club because she says it reminds her of being a teenager and dancing to Madonna,' one fan, @imnotjuIes, wrote.

'And that's how you know Chappell Roan is a pop princess.'

In another post, they added: 'I love Kate Bush but i don't understand the comparison between the two.

Chappell's looks hark back to the 80s icon (pictured in 1984) - who, along with Cyndi Lauper - was renowned for her bold eyeshadow and bright lipstick

The rising sensation has sparked comparisons with the 80s icon on social media, with many citing her bold fashion, retro ballads and fierce stage presence as emulating the 'Queen of Pop' 

People on X also appear torn on exactly which 80s icon Chappell  (left) reminds them of, due to the nostalgia her music harks for the decade, with its synth heavy melodies and retro vocals. Madonna pictured right in 1990

Madonna's legacy of theatrical performance, activism and LGBT advocacy are also all comparable to Chappell, who heavily cites drag queens as her inspiration

'I think people just see her red hair and ability to give goosebumps with a high note and think Kate Bush, but to me she's so much more Madonna and Cyndi Lauper- 80s pop diva.'

Madonna's legacy of theatrical performance, activism and LGBT advocacy are also all comparable to Chappell, who heavily cites drag queens as her inspiration.

Earlier this year, she performed at the Governor's Ball festival in New York over the weekend and revealed that she had turned down a pride event at the White House.

She boldly said: 'This is a response to the White House, who asked me to preform for Pride. We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.'

Much of Chappell's music is also inspired by her deeply religious upbringing - as is the case for Madonna, who was raised Roman Catholic in Michigan - and has a long history of running afoul of the Vatican.

However, while Chappell's music unpacks her experiences on a personal level, Madonna was known for her sensational stunts in protest of the church. 

Pop sensation Chappell, born in a small town of just 6,000 people in Missouri , has had an incredible rise in the last year and is set to perform at a series of shows in London for her world tour. Pictured in February 

Pictured: Madonna performing onstage at the Universal Amphitheater on April 27, 1985 for the 'Like A Virgin Tour' in Los Angeles

Her 1989 video for Like A Prayer contained imagery that outraged religious leaders, including stigmata and burning crosses, and her seminal 1990 'Blond Ambition' tour included simulated masturbation and brought condemnation from the Vatican.  

Meanwhile, in her 2006 Confessions tour, she staged a mock crucifixion only a few miles from the Vatican.

Chappell, however, takes a more measured approach. Talking to Vanity Fair last year, she said: 'I don't identify with the Christian Church anymore right now, but I'm really glad that I was part of that community because I understand them. I understand that perspective. I know where they're coming from.'

The star's meteoric rise to fame is one of the top stories of the year in the music industry.

From playing Coachella, to rising up the charts, and even a viral interview and performance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last month, the 26-year-old music artist's name is seemingly everywhere.

Chappell - who gave herself the moniker 'your favorite artist's favorite artist' in the spirit of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby - has earned a staggering 68.36M streams to date.

In September 2023, the rising star  - who identifies as a lesbian - released her debut album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess which earned just 2.51million on-demand streams through January 4, 2024 in the US according Luminate via Billboard. 

However her profile expanded beginning with touring with Olivia Rodrigo on her GUTS World Tour from February to April before releasing single Good Luck, Babe! and  performing at Coachella that same month.

Then in May and June her streams saw a massive jump as she performed at three festivals: Boston Calling in Boston, Governors Ball in New York, and Bonnaroo in Tennessee.

Now Chappell's streams have reached more than 20 times greater than they did at the star of the year with her catalog earning a whopping 68.36 million streams in the week ending June 20 according to the site.

Chappell is known for her fierce stage presence and performances. Pictured left, in May. Pictured right, Madonna in 1987

To this day, Madonna's performances are high energy and heavily costumed. Pictured performing in 2015

Her aforementioned debut album also did not chart on the Billboard 200 upon release back in September as it earned just 7,000 equivalent album units according to Luminate.

However after Chappell's run on Olivia's tour and the release of her single Good Luck, Babe! she finally debuted at No. 127 on April 6 with just over 9,000 equivalent album units.

And that was only the beginning as it continued rising on the charts before earning 46,000 equivalent album units in the week ending on June 20 for a grand total of 423,000 equivalent album units. 

The fast rise to fame has not exactly been easy as the star broke down into tears while performing on stage at a concert earlier this month.

The singer - who hit the red carpet at the 2024 ASCAP Pop Music Awards last month - choked up during her concert in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, June 12.

She had tears running down her face as she told the audience: 'I guess I just want to be honest with the crowd. I just feel a little off today ‘cause I think that my career is going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up. 

'So I’m just being honest that I’m just having a hard time today.

Earlier this year, she performed at the Governor's Ball festival in New York over the weekend and revealed that she had turned down a pride event at the White House 

Madonna also loves to invoke theatrical elements to her show. Pictured in May 2019, at the Billboard Music Awards

'So sorry that — I’m not trying to give you, like, a lesser show. It’s just, there’s a lot… Thank you for understanding. 

'This is all I’ve ever wanted. It’s just heavy sometimes, I think.'

Chappell has seen a massive uptick in her fandom in recent months as her current Midwest Princess Tour was set for club-sized venues.

The demand has been so high that some dates have been moved to bigger venues which have still continued to sell out.

The  Willard, Missouri even reportedly pulled bigger crowds than headliners including Ed Sheeran at the Boston Calling festival last month.

On Sunday, June 16 she performed at the highly-popular Bonnaroo festival as she was originally set to play one of the smaller stages in a tent.

After public outcry, Chappell was upgraded to the outdoor Which Stage in order to be able to accommodate her rabid fanbase. 

Pop sensation Chappell, born in a small town of just 6,000 people in Missouri, has had an incredible rise in the last year and is set to perform at a series of shows in London for her world tour. 

Since she released her debut album in September the singer has continued to rise and rise, thanks to her burlesque-inspired looks and raunchy lyrics gathering a legion of Gen Z fans.

Both Chappell and Madonna have been compared for their powerhouse vocals and stage presences

The album The Rise and Fall of Midwest Princess, is aptly named, given Chappell came from nowhere to get a huge record deal at 17, only to be dropped and working in a coffee shop a few years later.

Nine years ago, when she was just 17, Chappell, real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, was signed to Atlantic Records, a major label that has the likes of Bruno Mars, Cardi B,  Lizzo and Ed Sheeran on their books.

A big feat for anyone but especially for Chappell, who at the time was closest queer woman who grew up 'really really religious' and who knew no one in Hollywood.

But as soon as it happened, it disappeared. Chappell was dropped by her label in 2020, and returned to her tiny Ozarks home, where she worked as a barista and made music quietly.

Four years on, she's touring the world in an arena tour with chart topper Olivia Rodrigo. She counts Elton John as a fan. 

Madonna, pictured in the 1980s. Chappell has been compared to the Queen of Pop on her rise to stardom

Since she released her debut album in September the singer has continued to rise and rise, thanks to her burlesque-inspired looks and raunchy lyrics gathering a legion of Gen Z fans

Four years on, she's touring the world in an arena tour with chart topper Olivia Rodrigo. She counts Elton John as a fan. She is pictured after a show

As a teenager, Chappell had been discovered via YouTube after uploading videos of herself singing covers 'for fun'. She had written songs because she had a crush on an older Mormon student. Skipping her last year of school, she then moved to Hollywood, released an EP,  and opened for huge acts like Vance Joy.

She thought she had won the lottery.

'I was 17 and I thought I was gonna win a Grammy,' she told the Guardian. 'It's funny, because, when you sign to a label, that's when the real work begins'.

In 2020, she released Pink Pony Club, a single that got massive critical traction.

The semi-autobiographical track tells the tale of a girl from a small town discovering her queerness at a gay club.

It was written immediately after her first visit to a gay club. Growing up in Missouri she had 'never seen a drag queen'.  

Critical acclaim soon followed. USA Today ranked the song third on a list of the '10 best songs of 2020, Vulture called it the 'song of summer 2021' 

The star is now opening for Olivia Rodrigo (pictured together)

Yet, despite praise from critics, the dream quickly came crashing down. After a lack of sales, Chappell was dropped by her label.

This, paired with the Covid-19 pandemic, and a break-up of a boyfriend of four years, and a bipolar diagnosis, saw Chappell move back to Missouri with her parents and get a job at a drive-through donut shop.

After working in a coffee drive thru as a barista while working on her music as an independent artist she managed to save enough money to move back to LA.

'I was working the drive-through and I would just think of little song melodies and write on my Notes app. And that's kind of how I kept the flame going. It didn't really explode until I moved back to LA and got a job,' she told Vanity Fair. 

The return to the midwest was tricky one for Chappell, who had been both 'terrified and thrilled' to move to LA.

Growing up listening to Christian rock, and going to church three times a week, the first time she saw the video for Lady Gaga's Alejandro she thought it was 'porn'. 

Her name comes from her grandfather Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer in 2016 and his favourite song 'The Strawberry Roan' by Curley Fletcher. She is pictured as a child

Chappell often brings out drag queens to open at their shows. She is known for her camp-style performances

She had been 'shaking in Trader Joe's' the first time she saw someone shopping in a sports bra, yet quickly she embraced the west coast lifestyle. 

'I grew up thinking being gay was bad and a sin,' she added to the Guardian. 'I went to the gay club once and it was so impactful, like magic. It was the opposite of everything I was taught'.

Not surprising, as she had grown up being told LA was 'demonic' and 'full of Satanists'. 

Once back in LA, Chappell began working with Dan Nigro, who produced Pink Pony Club.

In the in between, Dan had reached producer superstar status for working with Olivia Rodrigo on Grammy-winning albums SOUR and GUTS.

Before making it big, she worked odd jobs, including at a donut shot, as a nanny and a production assistant on a HBO show.

Then, she then landed a deal with Sony in 2022, and now she's opening for Olivia Rodrigo on her world tour, playing for hundreds of thousands of people. 

Growing up listening to Christian rock, and going to church three times a week, the first time she saw the video for Lady Gaga's Alejandro she thought it was 'porn'. Chappell is pictured

'It happened so fast and I just wasn't ready,' she told Variety.

'It's so cliché, but one weekend I was playing coffee shops and the next weekend I was signed to Atlantic Records. It was very, very unhinged and really scary. I just genuinely didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't feel like I had a lot of help.'

Chappell, who she calls a 'drag persona', is the 'future of pop' according to Rolling Stone.  

The album has now been streamed more than a hundred million times, with Chappell also making appearances on late night shows in the US. 

'I rose from the ashes of losing all my money and moving back in with my parents and working the drive-through — this beautiful project came to life from the deep pits of hell',' she told Variety.

She now says that she 'hated all her music' from her first EP, and the new album, is filled with sexually-suggestive queer tracks including 'My Kink is Karma' and  'Naked in Manhattan'.

One track, Casual, has lyrics: 'Knee deep in the passenger seat and you're eating me out. Is it casual now?'.

In another, Red Wine Supernova, she cheekily sings: 'I heard you like magic – I've got a wand and a rabbit.'

Olivia is known for her burlesque-inspired outfits and raunchy lyrics

'My songs are so overtly sexual on purpose because it's an expression of me that I wasn't able to express growing up in a Christian household, in a Christian town that was very conservative,' she told Vulture.

'But I shot myself in the foot because unfortunately, when people hear those songs, they just assume that I'm that way. That's definitely put me in some uncomfortable situations.'

While the album has described by critics as 'really high-femme, over-the-top gay pop', Chappell says she's 'an introvert' and her onstage persona is a drag queen.

Despite the obviously sexually-charged lyrics, for Chappell she 'just wants to be Hannah Montana' - the teen star played by Miley Cyrus. 

Her name comes from her grandfather Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer in 2016 and  his favourite song 'The Strawberry Roan' by Curley Fletcher.

Off-stage, Chappell says she's very lowkey and an 'introvert'. Despite the obviously sexually-charged lyrics, for Chappell she 'just wants to be Hannah Montana' - the teen star played by Miley Cyrus

And while her name is wholesome, her look, is part drag-queen, part burlesque.   

'I'm very much inspired by drag and burlesque,' she told Vulture, as well as saying she is inspired by 'Bratz dolls'.

'I love burlesque outfits because they're so dramatic and pretty and sparkly and intricate. Showgirls, the movie, is one of my favourite movies, I love the outfits and the makeup. Euphoria stole everything from that movie. And Pinterest. Pinterest is my way of life,' she added to Vulture, a far cry from her 'very sheltered and very prude' upbringing.

'I am very introverted. I love being alone. I love playing video games by myself'.