Six years ago today, Chappell Roan made magic. On Friday, the 2025 Grammys’ Best New Artist celebrated the sixth anniversary of writing “Pink Pony Club,” the single that would spark the ascent of her stardom just a few years later.
“It was quite confusing because I had never written a song like it. Where did it come from? I swear to god it was spiritual, it had to be,” Roan wrote about penning “Pink Pony Club,” sharing that it took her two days to write the track. “Thank you for lifting her up all these years. Thank god I wrote a song that scared the hell out of me, she had my back the whole time, still to this very day.”
“Welcome to the pink pony club where boys and girls can all be queens every single day bitch,” she added, quoting the song’s lyrics. “This is so corny but literally follow your wicked dreams ok Tootles!”
While speaking for a Rolling Stone cover story late last year, Roan reflected on how her old label, Atlantic Records, did not want her to release the now-iconic song. She co-wrote the track with producer Dan Nigro and both of them believed it could reach a wide audience, but Roan revealed that Atlantic tried to discourage her from even releasing it.
“I was so devastated,” Roan said in the interview. “It made me second-guess myself.”
“It feels so good to prove them wrong because they weren’t just a little wrong,” Roan later added. “They were really, really, really wrong. To know that my gut instinct was right is the best feeling in the world. Purposeful revenge does not feel good, but revenge by accident feels awesome.”
Nigro also told Rolling Stone‘s Music Now podcast that her label wanted Roan to choose between fun and emotive music. “We had ‘Pink Pony Club’ and then we had made ‘Naked in Manhattan’” he said. “And I remember they were like, ‘She can’t be both — she has to be pop music, or it has to be this sad, singer-songwriter pensive music. It can’t be both things.’”
“And I remember getting so mad because I know her personality, and it is both! Not only can she be both, but she sounds great being both,” Nigro added.
Earlier this month, Roan won the trophy for Best New Artist shortly after taking the stage to perform the LGBTQ-celebrating track that kicked off her Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess album. It has since been covered by everyone from Kacey Musgraves to Kelly Clarkson.
From Rolling Stone US
