Chappell Roan has been on everyone's minds these past few months. The star's meteoric rise has shown no sign of stopping, and this energy could be felt on the second day of this year's Osheaga Music and Arts Festival. Although the festival grounds host a total of six stages, it seemed as though every festivalgoer congregated in the same place moments before Chappell was to appear on stage.
At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, guitarist Devon Eisenbarger took to the festival's River Stage and immediately started riffing an impressive solo in front of a huge, roaring crowd. Only a few moments later, your favourite artist's favourite artist made her dramatic entrance by crawling towards Devon, looking too magical for this plane of existence in her frilly pink dress and fairy wings. Drummer Lucy Ritter and bassist Allee Futterer took to the stage shortly thereafter, and the chaos of their spectacular entrance elegantly transitioned into the opening of "Femininomenon," the first song of the afternoon.
"Hello! Bienvenue!" Roan said to her fans after a few more songs. "Je m'appelle Chappell Roan. Today we're gonna play The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and we're gonna teach you a dance!" She dedicated the next few minutes to walking the crowd through how to perform her viral "HOT TO GO!" dance — a truly surreal moment as a flurry of hands moved throughout the massive crowd, forming the letters of what will soon become this generation's version of "YMCA."
"It's hot out here," Roan said shortly after the song's conclusion, pausing to take a few graceful sips from her bright pink water bottle. "Are you hot?" Given the song she just played and the high of 31 degrees in Montreal, the answer was a resounding "yes."
After bringing the vibes down with the low-tempo track "Casual" and then back up again by doing the splits during the second verse of "Red Wine Supernova," Roan took another quick pause. "This next song is for my ex. Je te déteste. Tu es tellement stupide," she said, reading off of a paper on stage to cater to Montreal's French-Canadian demographic. While the masses started cheering, she proceeded to play "My Kink Is Karma," a song all about relishing the downfall of a significant other after a messy breakup.
The show may have only been 45 minutes, but the spell Chappell Roan cast upon festival goers was enchanting enough to last an eternity. Sometimes, it can be hard to fathom how a star in the music industry can rise up so quickly, gaining a worldwide following in what feels like mere minutes. But to hear the power of her voice and watch her stunning nonstop dance routine first-hand, there was no room for questions when she eventually departed from the stage with beads of sweat and drag makeup running down her face. It became all too clear in that moment why Chappell Roan is the next big thing.