Chapell Roan can’t seem to stop making hits.
With bops like HOT TO GO!, Femininomenon, Super Graphic Ultra-Modern Girl and Good, Luck Babe!, the US star’s career has truly skyrocketed this summer.
With such a meteoric rise, it’s no wonder many of her newfound fans aren’t even aware that the Pink Pony Club singer’s moni actually has a special meaning behind it.
Which is?
The artist’s legal name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, while her stage name is actually an ode to her grandfather.
In a 2022 interview with Oxford student newspaper Cherwell, she said: “I have never felt super connected to my real name Kayleigh. My grandfather’s name was Dennis K. Chappell, so I took Chappell in his honour.”
“Before he passed away in 2016 due to brain cancer, I told him that I was going to be Chappell for him,” she added.
As for her stage surname, it seems she drew inspiration from her grandfather’s music taste.
“Roan came from his favourite song, which was called the Strawberry Roan, an old Western song about a pinkish red horse,” the star revealed (her song Pink Pony Club makes more sense now).
“It’s a very sentimental name. I do still wish my name was not Kayleigh in real life, though.”
No, really ― don’t call her Kayleigh
A lot has changed for the chart-topping singer since that 2022 interview, and her sudden fame has led her to share her boundaries more clearly.
Aside from her viral TikTok speaking out against “crazy” fans, she also penned an Instagram post “expressing her fears and boundaries.”
“Please stop touching me. Please stop being weird to my family and friends. Please stop assuming things about me. There is always more to the story. I am scared and tired,” one of the slides read.
“And please—don’t call me Kayleigh,” she added.
In a Rolling Stone article published earlier this week, the singer stressed that she will no longer respond to the name “Kayleigh” if fans use it in public.
“They need to see me as a random bitch on the street,” she told the magazine on setting boundaries for her fans. “You can’t yell at a random bitch who’s on the sidewalk that you don’t know. It’s considered catcalling or harassment.”