Chappell Roan's two-night Super Graphic Spectacular in LA featured Christina Aguilera, Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress and Lola Young, per Pitchfork.
Chappell Roan spent two nights this week turning a Los Angeles benefit into a pop-star reunion. According to Pitchfork and Stereogum, the Super Graphic Spectacular at the Shrine Auditorium celebrated the first anniversary of her Midwest Princess Project, a charity that supports young people from LGBTQ+ communities, and the guest list kept getting longer.
Night one: Christina Aguilera
On Wednesday, Roan's headline set had a surprise appearance from Christina Aguilera, Pitchfork reports. Stereogum adds the details: Aguilera sang her own 2002 ballad "Beautiful," then joined Roan for a looser, less polished take on Roan's "Coffee." Stereogum describes the pair as having a funny chemistry, with Roan looking like she was having the time of her life. Lola Young was among that night's openers, and the bill also included Tinashe, per Stereogum.
Night two: three more guests
Thursday's show opened with MUNA and Caroline Polachek, according to Stereogum. Polachek sang only two songs. During "Look at Me Now," her 2019 ballad, Roan came out and turned it into a duet.
Roan's own set then brought out PinkPantheress, who sang "Tonight." Stereogum says Roan didn't join in as a duet but did play along with the call-and-response at the end. Later, Roan sang her own ballad "Picture You," and Lola Young appeared mid-song to take on some of the big vocal lines, per both outlets.
A busy week for Roan
This wasn't a one-off. Pitchfork notes she also joined Charli XCX for "Boom Clap" at the Kia Forum the previous weekend, and Stereogum says she appeared on a remix of Olivia Rodrigo's "Expectations." Stereogum points out that Roan had been fairly quiet for most of the year before that.
The Midwest Princess Project's own site describes its work as supporting trans and LGBTQ+ youth, and the Shrine shows were billed as benefits for it. Neither outlet gave fundraising totals, so we don't know how much the two nights raised.
Our take
This is opinion. Roan has had a lot of attention thrown at her, and the interesting thing here is how she used it: she gave the stage away. A run of duets with artists from different corners of pop, from an early-2000s superstar to some of today's names, makes a stronger case for a benefit night than a straight headline set would. Stereogum's writer put the mood in one line: they were enjoying the "pop stars admiring and being friends with each other" dynamic. It's hard to argue with that.
Picture credit: The Midwest Princess Project
