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Chappell Roan via Facebook

The Kentuckiana Pride Festival on Saturday, June 15 has reached its ticket capacity. LEO published the lineup on the day it was announced in March. Anyone who has been waiting to buy their tickets on the day of the event will now have to observe the festival from outside the partitions around the Big Four Lawn at Waterfront Park.

Part of the appeal at this year’s Kentuckiana Pride Festival is a performance by Midwestern synth pop princess Chappell Roan. Search for Chappell Roan on Google and Google will ask, “Did you mean: your favorite artist’s favorite artist.” She really is that girl.

Chappell Roan uploaded her first original song to YouTube — under her legal name Kayleigh Rose — in 2014, when she was 16 years old. Since then, she has released a series of singles and a full-length album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” in 2023. The album was included on more than a few Best of 2023 lists. So far in 2024, Chappell Roan opened for Olivia Rodrigo on the Guts World Tour, gone viral on TikTok for her performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series, and performed Coachella.

Most recently, she headlined at the Governor’s Ball in New York. Performing in Statue of Liberty drag on Sunday, June 9, she told the audience she had recently rejected an offer to perform at the White House for a Pride event. She then announced her song “My Kink Is Karma,” as “a response to the White House, who asked me to perform for Pride.” Directly referencing transgender discrimination in the U.S. and the Biden administration’s support of the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza, Chappell Roan said: “We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”

Chappell Roan will be joined at The Kentuckiana Pride Festival by Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop as co-headliners at the LGBTQ Pride event. Other performers include Robin S., +FLOW, Friday Night Special, Bungalow Betty, Vibe.like.Ty, and VOICES of Kentuckiana, and DJ sets by DJ Dan Slater, DJ Griffin Green, and DJ DNasti.

This article appears in Jun 5-18, 2024.

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Aria Baci is a writer and critic who has been working in print and digital media since 2015 for outlets as varied as Design*Sponge, Geeks OUT, Flame Con, and The Mary Sue. She is passionate about literature,...