Pop star Chappell Rhone wins BBC Sound of 2025

Pop star Chappelle Rhone has received BBC Radio 1's Sound of 2025 – the station's annual survey to determine music's greatest rising stars.

Her triumph caps a 12 month interval through which she rose from relative obscurity to the highest of the charts because of her vibrant, 80s-influenced model of synth-pop.

She was named the winner by a panel of over 180 musicians and specialists, together with Sir Elton John, Dua Lipa and Sound of 2014 winner Sam Smith.

Jack Saunders, host of Radio 1's New Music Show, mentioned: “Nobody deserves this accolade more than Chappell Rhone. She was the most exciting artist of the last 12 months and is now set to be the artist of the next 12 months. “

An unique interview with the singer might be revealed by Radio 1 and BBC News within the coming weeks.

The 26-year-old participant has come a protracted solution to success.

Born Kaylee Amstutz, she was raised within the conservative city of Willard, Missouri, the place she attended church 3 times per week and was taught that being homosexual was a sin.

He signed his first report deal in 2017 based mostly on the energy of a tune he uploaded to YouTube. die younger,

Modeled as a singer-songwriter within the fashion of Lorde and Lana Del Rey, she did not make a lot of an influence, and was dropped from her label throughout the pandemic.

But by that stage, she had already recorded a tune that may turn out to be her calling card.

Titled Pink Pony Club, it was impressed by a go to to an L.A. homosexual membership, and helped her outline a brand new camp sound, stuffed with freewheeling and solo choruses.

This expertise additionally gave rise to her campy stage persona, which she has described as “a larger-than-life, drag queen version of me”.

After discovering a brand new report label, she launched her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in September 2023.

It was a sluggish success, promoting only some thousand copies in its first week of launch. But phrase began to unfold — and after they performed California's Coachella Festival final April, the gang was large for his or her afternoon set.

More importantly, the present was broadcast on YouTube – it went viral when Roan, leaning in the direction of the TV cameras, introduced: “I'm your favorite artist's favorite artist.” After this the efficiency was considered multiple million instances.

Around the identical time, she launched a stand-alone single known as Good Luck, Babe, which talked concerning the expertise of falling in love together with her greatest buddy.

“It's a pop song that has a sad element,” He advised BBC News final yr,

“This is very common in queer relationships, when someone is still coming to terms with their weirdness, [that] As the song says, they'll kiss 100 boys to 'stop the feeling'.

“And it's like, 'Sure, OK. Your time will come.'”

The single eventually reached number two in the UK charts, and The Rise and Fall of the Midwest Princess became a number one album after being re-released on vinyl the previous summer.

Since then, Roan has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and won Best New Artist at the Billboard Music Awards in December.

He has also experienced the downside of his sudden fame, and he “scary conduct“about some fans who “yelled” and “harassed” him during private moments; and who had contacted his family and friends.

The singer has taken time off in early 2025 to work on new music, but will be headlining the Reading and Leeds festivals this summer.

Previous winners of the BBC's Sound of list include Adele, Ellie Goulding, 50 Cent, Pinkpantheras and girl group Flo.

Art-rock group The Last Dinner Party had won the title the previous year, topping the charts with their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy.

Runners-up for this year's award include jazz outfit Ezra Collective and dance producer Barry Cant Swim.

To qualify, artists could not have more than two UK top 10 albums or two UK top 10 singles by 30 September 2024.

The guidelines have been relaxed this yr to acknowledge the challenges of reaching crossover success within the streaming age – when an artist can attain primary with out changing into a family title.