Chappell Roan and Corinne Bailey Rae have the same initials, but little else in common. One makes provocative, easily digestible music. The other has made an intellectual, ambitious record that took me weeks to get my head around. Read on for details….
Chappell Roan
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
2023, 8/10
Producer Dan Nigro has produced a lot of great pop music recently. Formerly of the indie band Tall as Lions, he moved to LA to become a songwriter. Starting with a McDonalds jingle and then Kimbra, he’s worked on a lot of acclaimed pop music recently. He’s produced key tracks on acclaimed pop albums by Sky Ferreira, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Caroline Polachek. He’s also topped the charts worldwide with Olivia Rodrigo.
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, from Willard, Missouri, is Nigro’s latest project. Recording under the name Chappell Roan, her debut album has a long gestation period. The single ‘Pink Pony Club’, included on this album, came out in 2020. However, Olivia Rodrigo’s breakout success with ‘Driver’s License’ meant that Nigro’s schedule was full. Chappell Roan was unable to find another collaborator she liked as much. Dropped by Atlantic, she worked as a production assistant. a barista, and a nanny to support herself.
Almost every song centres around sex, but Chappell Roan is witty and vulnerable enough to make it work. The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess is an impressive debut, but it’s a little frontloaded. A lot of my favourite tracks come early in the running time. ‘Feminomenom’ is like a rallying cry for female empowerment,
Ladies, you know what I mean
Chappell Roan
And you know what you need and so does he
But does it happen? (No)
But does it happen? (No)
Well, what we really need is a femininomenon (a what?)
A femininomenon
‘Red Wine Supernova’ is an obvious single, catchy and propulsive. ‘Coffee’ is delicate, showing Roan’s vocal chops. My favourite track is ‘Casual’, capturing young adult confusion with a classic opening line.
My friends call me a loser
‘Cause I’m still hanging around
I’ve heard so many rumors
That I’m just a girl that you bang on your couch
The rest of the album doesn’t quite keep the same momentum. Still, it has strong tracks like ‘My Kink is Karma’ and ‘Pink Pony Club’.
2024 is likely to be a breakout year for Chappell Roan. Charismatic and provocative, and supporting Olivia Rodrigo on her world tour next year, she’s a star in waiting.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Black Rainbows
2023, 8.5/10
I’ve never paid Corinne Bailey Rae much attention. She hit the mainstream with smooth and soulful hits like 2006’s ‘Put Your Records On’. But in 2003, freed from the artistic constraints of a major label, she’s made a fascinating and ambitious record.
Black Rainbows was inspired by an exhibition on Black history by artist Theaster Gates. It’s wildly diverse, taking in jazz, R&B, punk, and psychedelia.
The material doesn’t quite match the breadth and the ambition, although it comes close. Its palette is broad – the psychedelia of ‘A Spell, A Prayer’, the free jazz of the title track, and the punk of ‘Erasure’.
It’s often pretty – there’s jazz-tinged R&B balladry on ‘Red Horse’, while ‘Peach Velvet Sky’ sounds like Joni Mitchell or Laura Nyro at their spaciest. Rae said that ‘Before the Throne of the Invisible God’ was inspired by stone churches in Ethiopia:
The title “Before the Throne of the Invisible God” comes from the image of a sculpted throne recessed into the wall of an Ethiopian rock church in Lalibela, with steps for God to climb up. It made me think of the limitlessness of the divine.
Corrine Bailey Rae, X
Black Rainbows is dense and takes some work to digest. But it’s worth the effort.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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It’s very interesting how we’re both keeping an eye out on new music releases yet rarely overlap. Same thing with Jeff (Eclectic Music Lover). Not only is it an indication how much new music is coming out but once again drives home the point how individually music is experienced.
At first sight, Chappell Roan reminded me a bit of a younger Madonna visually speaking. It’s perhaps yet another indication I do need new glasses! 🙂
While both artists fall outside my core wheelhouse, based on my very first impression, I think I might prefer Corinne Bailey Rae. “Peach Velvet Sky” is an intriguing song!
There’s a lot of music out there. I guess we all have slightly different lenses. I would say that EML is more mainstream, you gravitate more to music that reminds you of your favourites from the 1960s and 1970s, while I’m more into slightly arty, weird but not too weird, kind of stuff.
Madonna is a good comparison for Chappell Roan. 40 years later, she’s able to be a lot more controversial than Madonna was.
I would have picked you to prefer Corinne Bailey Rae. It has a bit of 1960s psychedelia and 1970s funk and jazz in there.
Well said, Graham! And, actually, I like our tastes only partially intersect. You and Jeff bring a lot of new music on my radar screen I would miss otherwise.
It wouldn’t be very interesting if we all agreed….
Exactly! Plus, I liked being “challenged” to listen past my core wheelhouse!
Liked the second Corinne track. Sounds like she’s been checking out esperanza spalding.
It’s a good album, I’d never checked in with her before.
The track from Corinne Bailey Rae is good….I like the energy…
The conversation Christian and you had is true…the 3 of you find new music that is different. You seem to favor more of the female pop, Jeff leans toward more 80s style at times and Christian more toward new bands with more of a classic sound.
I’m not saying you three don’t stray away from that… it’s more things coming out that I ever knew.
A lot of the 1960s and 1970s stuff I covered is totally male-dominated. Not really by design, I think men had more opportunities back then. But probably is pretty female-dominated in rececnt years.
Oh I was talking more about the newer music…but no…it isn’t true across the board.
Yeah, it’s just interesting that my experience of older music is very male dominated, and newer music is pretty female.
There are much more now…well available anyway.