Chappell Roan has become one of pop’s boldest new voices, pairing her music with fashion that mixes camp, drag, and unapologetic risk-taking. And sometimes that means a little chaos—intentional or not.
Case in point: last week in New York, when even Roan startled herself by what—or rather, what wasn’t—covering her fabulous bum on the Jumbotron.
Last Saturday, the “Hot to Go!” singer kicked off her run of concerts at Forest Hills Stadium. The show was seamless—until Roan glanced up at the giant screen and remembered that her outfit was, in fact, just a thong.
Concert footage shows the pop star, dressed in a red-and-black corset halter with matching bottoms, patting her derrière while reacting with mock horror when her bootylicious-baring look appeared larger-than-life above the crowd.
In a TikTok clip shared by StubHub, she told fans:
“Oh my God, I forgot my bottom was just a thong. I look up at the screen and see my ass. I was like, it’s gone.”
You catch the viral clip here:
And yes—her body is always serving boiling-hot-to-go tea.
The crowd roared in approval, and Roan quickly launched into her next song, turning the faux panic into part of the spectacle.
Wardrobe surprises are nothing new for the pop icon. At Paris Fashion Week in March, she posted a cheeky shot of her red leather dress splitting open at the Ludovic de Saint Sernin show. And during her Saturday Night Live debut last November, she nearly faced disaster when her outfit came apart just moments before she hit the stage.
You can watch her performance of “Pink Pony Club” here, where stylists literally sewed her into the look beforehand:
- YouTubeChappell Roan/YouTube
A close call, but clearly worth the look—especially during that chorus, baby.
Known for pushing fashion boundaries, Roan has also been candid about the less glamorous side of performance costumes. On the Call Her Daddy podcast, she described scrubbing off her spray-painted Statue of Liberty outfit from Governors Ball.
Roan told host Alex Cooper about the messy aftermath of her risqué fashion choices:
“I took three baths, not soap, dish soap. I literally poured dish soap in and scrubbed, rubbed my whole body with coconut oil, jumped in, scrubbed with a literal, like, kitchen sponge…”
You can see the full look below:
Marleen Moise/Getty
Roan admitted the cleanup was brutal, adding that her “pubes” were “pulling out from it all.”
Earlier this year, the Missouri native garnered her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist following the success of her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and viral hits “Good Luck, Babe,” “Subway,” and “Femininomenon.”
At Forest Hills, Roan performed from a gothic fairy tale-inspired castle stage. On her second night, she told the crowd she was battling a migraine. Still, she delivered an electrifying set—including a surprise appearance by Heart’s guitarist Nancy Wilson for a rendition of the band’s 1977 hit “Barracuda.”
She also reflected on her New York journey, telling fans:
“I like this show. It feels like... I was walking by the Bowery, not yesterday but the day before, and that was my first New York show, was Bowery Ballroom, and it's so crazy.”
Fans, meanwhile, praised both her faux wardrobe malfunction and her campy stage presence in social media reactions.
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For those who don’t know, now you know: Chappell Roan’s stage name combines her grandfather Dennis K. Chappell’s surname with “Roan,” a tribute to his favorite song “The Strawberry Roan.”
She started writing songs as a teenager and first gained attention with her 2017 single “Good Hurt,” which led to a deal with Atlantic Records. After leaving the label, Roan rebuilt her career independently, building a loyal following through energetic live performances and viral TikTok inspiring anthems before her official breakthrough with Midwest Princess.
She also opened up about her perfectionism onstage, telling the audience during Sunday’s show:
“I'm like really hard on myself. I'm really, really hard on myself for like performing, like if my voice is like pitchy or if I'm not like giving it my all or something, I'm really hard on myself, and I think that I... I just like can't do 100 percent today, and that's okay, and I can still have fun.”Roan launched her Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things tour on May 30 in Warsaw, Poland. The Forest Hills dates, running through Sept. 24, are part of a trio of pop-up shows in cities tied to her story: New York, Los Angeles, and Kansas City—just a short drive from her hometown of Willard, Missouri.
