She goes on striking moments: the giant choré (taken up by all our public neighbors like a gigantic Flashmob) of Hot To Go! YMCA way, worn just before by its latest explosive title, The Subway, the feverish rock of Barracuda, the progressive stripping where it makes skirt and top fall as if to materialize its release and obviously, this “the” the long has good good girl for a long time “which resonates like a manifesto. Contrasts on all floors: anti-pop star in the staging, but attitude of assumed diva, a mixture of self-mockery and magnitude. We think of Lana Del Rey in her melancholy impulses, but more flamboyant, more drag, more camp.
Chappell Roan also speaks a lot, generously. She thanks, she says. Before an intimate song, she confides: the memory of her 14th birthday, when she felt “miserable”, convinced that nothing would ever work. And today, faced with this Belgian human tide, she says her gratitude for having dared to believe in her, and invites everyone to feel legitimate here: “You Belong Here. You’re more Than Welcome to be here.” A simple message, but which takes an immense resonance when it comes from an artist who has known galleys, rejection of record house, return to the native country, before to be reinvented and Now the biggest festivals.
In filigree, we remember that this child from the Missouri has long sought his place, from his beginnings to the Prodigy Camp (this American summer camp for young talents where she animated circles around the fire) to her post-good luck explosion, Babe!. The tale is real: the Midwest Princess has become a world star, while succeeding in keeping this craft freshness, this quasi-bright joy that makes all its charm.
It is almost midnight when the curtain falls. The audience is hilarious, even Mackelmore, headliner of the next day, has gone to take a look at this XXL show, in all discretion. A nice memory, an enchanted first. On the other hand, no one told us if they lived happy and had many small ponies. Case to follow, therefore.
