Editor’s Note: Part I of this series can be read by clicking here.
If you are of a certain vintage and lived in Canada you will probably have firm memories of that time in our nation’s history when it almost all unraveled. The Quebec Referendum was a defining moment in Canadian history. It is the closest that any province has come to formally seceding from our country. Without going into a long summary of the various political maneuverings that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s, what I remember most were moments such as the crafting of The Meech Lake Accord, the repatriation of our constitution from England, the creation of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guide life in Canada to this very day, along with images of a chain smoking Quebec premier Rene Levesque going head to head with an equally stubborn and formidable Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his right hand man, Jean Chretien. I can still picture the famous image of Manitoba politician Elijah Harper holding up that eagle’s feather and sinking the Meech Lake Accord due to its exclusion of Indigenous Peoples from the constitutional talks and amendments. At the root of this moment of political upheaval lay Quebec’s claim that it was a society, distinct and separate from the rest of English-speaking Canada because of its political, linguistic and cultural history. The people of Quebec actually got a chance to vote on a referendum that, if successfully passed, would have seen Quebec withdraw as a member of Canadian confederation. In the end, the people of Quebec voted to remain in Canada as Canadian citizens. But the ramifications of that tumultuous time continue to play out even today. One of the most immediate reactive measures that happened by those in favour of separation was the creation of a new political party known as the Bloc Quebecois. The BQ are a regional party whose main goal is to represent the interests of Quebec in the national parliament of Canada. If you follow the news you may have heard that the Bloc Quebecois recently won a federal byelection in Montreal. This victory took what was referred to as a “safe seat” away from the ruling Liberal Party led by Pierre Trudeau’s son, Justin Trudeau. This loss for the Liberals is the latest in a series of losses which has many political pundits speculating that this BQ win may be what finally persuades Justin Trudeau to resign. When it comes to history, what goes around tends to eventually come around again. Sometimes those events are epic in scale but often they are deeply rooted in the personal experiences of those most closely affected. Quebec was the scene of one of Pierre Trudeau greatest political triumphs. Will it turn out to be his son’s waterloo? I predict we will find out that answer sooner than later.
From my own standpoint, I have always viewed Quebec with mixed feelings. I do subscribe to the notion that current Prime Minister Trudeau has always maintained, that Canada’s diversity of cultures is one of our greatest strengths. In all of the years that I have driven back and forth across the eastern half of the country, one of the most obvious things to me was the variety of cultures that were thriving as I drove from Quebec to New Brunswick and finally on to the Nova Scotia, with its bagpiper’s welcome as I crossed the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border. To deny that Quebec is a distinct part of our country is to deny the reality that you see, hear and feel as you find yourself in Quebec. It once was a politically loaded statement to acknowledge the distinctiveness of Quebec as a province and, by extension, Quebecers as peoples but, come on, have you ever experienced what it is like to be in Quebec? It is easily one of the most beautiful and culturally different places that I have found myself in while still in Canada. For my money, the geography of the St. Lawrence River Valley is among the most breathtakingly beautiful I have ever seen. I would love to live there and wake up everyday surrounded by the expansive vistas that exist as one approaches the Gaspe Peninsula along the Trans Canada highway. Then you have the twin cities of Montreal and Quebec City, both of which ooze culture and sophistication and positive energy. As a family, we have stayed in both cities and loved our time there. We would easily go back again to either city.
This brings me to the “mixed feelings” that I have about being in Quebec. The main reason that Quebec is such a unique and distinctive place within the fabric of Canada is because of its French culture and history. When you are in the province of Quebec you find yourself immersed in a world built upon a foundation of the french language. That is where I have trouble. One of the great personal failings of my life is the fact that I am unilingual. I do not speak french well enough to be conversant with those who live and breathe the language as part of the fabric of their being. For that I always feel guilty. I am not the sort of person who drives into Quebec and demands that those I encounter all speak English to me. Why should they? I am a guest in their province and I feel a responsibility to respect their way of life. That includes using French as the primary means by which people communicate there. I find my lack of ability to do this to be personally embarrassing. What is worse is that there is no reason for me to find myself in this predicament. It is entirely a problem of my own making, one that I could easily correct with even a modicum of personal effort on my part. Yet, I carry on in my English mindset and pay the price of being anxious each and every time I find myself driving through and/or visiting Quebec.
On this particular road trip with my family, our motivation was not to engage in sightseeing along the way, it was to make sure we got my daughter to her university destination on her appointed date and time so that she could move into her dorm room. Thus, this second day of our journey was simply a dash across the province of Quebec, from the Ontario border city of Cornwall, all the way to the New Brunswick border town of Edmundston. It was to be a six hour drive that day (which, due to massive road construction, ended up being closer to seven and half hours). Our only scheduled stops were to be for gas and for pit stops at some of the various roadside picnic areas that the Government of Quebec has installed for travelers every hundred kilometres or so along the Trans Canada highway. I have always found the drive through Quebec to New Brunswick to be a relatively easy one. The highway system is well maintained and relatively straight from west to east. You are not required to puzzle your way to your destination. All that you do is hop on Autoroute No. 20 (which is the Trans Canada highway) and drive. It is because of the ease of navigation that, as a driver, I am occasionally able to gaze up at the lovely landscapes that unfold before me as I head east. The only thing for me about driving through Quebec that has proved challenging in the past was access to music. When one finds oneself in a land where communicating in French is the law of the land then, it should not come as a great surprise that all radio stations broadcast in French as well. If I was bilingual then this would not be a problem but I am not so it is. In the past, when I have driven through Quebec by myself, I would play CDs or cassette tapes during this part of the journey. But as mentioned yesterday, I was not in charge of the music on this particular family journey and so, we were at the mercy of what we could find by scanning up and down the radio dial. Surprisingly enough to me, amid all of the French music that played, we still managed to find “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, “Too Sweet” by Hozier, “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen and so on. Those core songs of the summer were even being played on repeat in the land of the French! As we heard those songs for the seventh, eighth and even ninth times since leaving Cobourg just twenty-four hours before, I began to zone out. As I drove, I retreated into my mind. I took in the epic scenery all around me and wondered where the truly unique musical voices had gone. Who were the fresh faces of Quebecois music today? I had no idea. I certainly couldn’t tell from the offerings on the radio as we drove along. That made me wonder about some of the fresh voices in English-language music such as Chappell Roan and others. Was the commercial music on radio today becoming akin to having only chain stores in strip malls to shop at? I am always a big proponent of being in charge of the choices I make in my life. But, when the powers that be limit the available options to only a select few, am I really in charge of the choices I am making any longer? Thus, as we drove closer to the Gaspe and that portion of Autoroute No. 20 that pivots at Riviere du Loup and heads toward the New Brunswick border, I found myself thinking more and more about singers such as Chappell Roan. If you are not too familiar with her then get ready to learn more. From where I sit, she is one of the freshest, bravest and most creative musical voices to have come along in a long time. She makes me smile. I hope that she continues to remain successful on her own terms because, as you will soon see, being who she is almost dangerous for these times we find ourselves in.
The easiest way to explain the phenomenon that is Chappell Roan is to compare her to someone like Elton John when he was in his mid 1970s most flamboyant prime. The two performers share many things in common. First of all, neither performer performs using their real name. Both have adopted stage names that allow their real personalities to maintain a tiny bit of privacy. Elton John was born as Reginald Dwight. Although raised in a fairly strict, buttoned down household, young Reggie always had a sense that he was “different”. It was only as a performer that he was able to come out as being Gay. As part of the freedom that he felt, he indulged his own personal tastes by donning feathery, glittery costumes. Going to see a young Elton John perform live became as much about his wardrobe choices as it did about his musical catalogue. Chappell Roan was born as Kayleigh Rose Amstutz. Like Sir Elton, Kayleigh Rose grew up in a strict Christian home (in this case, in the American midwest). She attended summer Bible camps each year and was expected to grow up and chart a typical life path for herself which included marrying a man and becoming a mother. All in all, her life felt fairly pre-ordained. However, just like Elton John, Kayleigh Rose never felt comfortable having the dots of her life connected for her. While she played along for a while, even having a boyfriend all through high school, she was always chafing at society’s preconceived expectations of her. As her teen years went by, Kayleigh Rose started to lose herself in the world of music. She entered talent shows and started winning prizes. Eventually she came to the attention of record executives at Atlantic Records who had noticed a YouTube video she had uploaded of an original song entitled “Die Young”. Unfortunately, she was never able to capitalize on this career break and ended up returning to live with her parents, working as a nanny and a coffee barista. As her teen years were ending, two events occurred in close succession that repositioned the trajectory of her life. First of all, her grandfather passed away from brain cancer. His name was Dennis Chappell. In order to honour his memory, Kayleigh Rose came up with the idea of creating a stage persona that would allow her to write music and behave publicly in a way that she never could as Kayleigh Rose. Thus, “Chappell Roan” was born. The “Chappell” was based on her grandfather’s name and the “Roan” was based upon one of his favourite songs called “The Strawberry Roan” which is a classic old school Country and Western song from the 1920s. Thus, a new career was launched that allowed her to simultaneously honour her roots while charting a completely new life path for herself.
As Chappell Roan, Kayleigh Rose was able to throw off the chains of society’s (and her family’s) expectations and take her life toward what she felt was her true self. Atlantic Records dropped her after she released a song called “Pink Pony Club”. If you are unfamiliar with this song, it may sound like a child’s song based on the cartoon My Little Pony but it is anything but. It is actually a declaration from Chappell Roan of her coming out to the world as being Gay. Just like Elton John, Chappell Roan used music as a path toward her true self. As you can imagine, it is never easy “coming out” regardless of your own personal situation but doing so in the American heartland, in a strict religious environment is even tougher and, in many cases, it is personally dangerous to do so. If you follow the news at all from the U.S. in recent years, you will be aware that a wave of Christian Nationalism has swept over many states there. Laws have been passed that restrict the rights of those who live non-heteronormative lives. So, for someone like Chappell Rose to come out as unabashedly, unequivocally Gay is a brave personal and professional stance to have taken. Furthermore, she has championed the cause of the Drag community, often hiring Drag performers as opening acts for her when she is on tour. One of the first times I took notice of Chappell Roan as a performer was when she was invited by President Joe Biden to perform at the White House during Pride Month. Roan refused to perform because she claimed, and rightly so, that Biden was not doing enough to protect people like her out in the real world and, until laws were changed, she would not play at the White House and pose for photo ops with him. At the time, I thought that she was quite the cheeky one for defying the President of the United States so publicly at a time when he was still actively running against Donald Trump. I initially thought that her actions had hurt his chances at connecting with younger voters but, in time I have come to view what she did as being quite principled. And, as we all know, being principled isn’t always the easiest road to follow.
As you read these words, the career of Chappell Roan is breaking into the stratosphere. Her most recent album called The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess has been lauded by critics and earned her places on the year end Best of lists for 2023. This album has spawned multiple hit songs such as “Red Wine Supernova”, “Causal”, “Hot To Go” and “Good Luck, Babe”. Her songs are all highly performative and fun. At first blush it is easy to underestimate the power and poignancy of her lyrics because of the campy theatricality of her performances. For example, her current single is called “Hot To Go”. It is very much written in the same style as “YMCA” by The Village People. It has a chant-like chorus and audience dance actions embedded into the song. But just as “YMCA” was far more than just a fun novelty song *(You can read about that from a previous post here), “Hot To Go” is also about celebrating a lifestyle choice that people should be able to freely make but, for a variety of reasons, are increasingly unable to do so. Her song “Good Luck, Babe” is a song about two women being attracted to each other but one of them being reluctant to deepen the relationship because of the weight of society’s expectations. The song tells the story of these two women as it unfolds over the years as one opts to follow her “expected” life path into a loveless marriage while the other remains an unattainable temptation and symbol for the first one of not truly being able to be your true self because of society’s rules. And yet, “Good Luck, Babe” is sung in the style of Kate Bush from “Wuthering Heights” fame and is played as a sweet Pop song. Believe me when I tell you that there is nothing out there in the world of music quite like the songs of Chappell Roan.
All in all, I am very impressed with the breath of fresh air that Chappell Roan is breathing into the music scene. I hope that she is able to maintain her outlook on life and her sense of joy and happiness that shines through in her songs, her on stage performances and in her willingness to champion those so clearly under the imposing boot heels of authoritarianism in America today. To give you a good sense of who Chappel Roan is and why her star is in ascendancy at the moment, I am going to include a three-song performance of hers from the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series. In addition to listening to her songs, watch how tight and polished her band is and how much fun they all seem to be having. If you like mid-1970s Elton John, I predict that you will like mid 2020s Chappell Roan, too.
So there you have the scene completely set. We were driving through the heart of French Canada, still being able to access the same six English American songs again and again, all the while I am in my own little world, cruising along, soaking in the beautiful scenery and singing the words to “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan in my own mind. Such is life on this most unusual of family road trips.
At various times in our lives, we all feel like we are strangers in our own skin, aliens in the places we find ourselves in. Sometimes, like my own failings with French, the feelings of discomfort while in Quebec are of my own making. It is up to me to rectify the situation. The people of Quebec are actually just fine. I’m the problem, it’s me (as some famous chanteuse recently said). However, there are other times when the discomfort we feel is no fault of our own. It is a much tougher row to hoe when the alien landscape ends up being your home. Where do you turn when no place feels safe and you are never free to be your true self? In the case of Reginald Dwight, Kayleigh Rose Amstutz and countless others, you don your best party clothes and sing out loudly and proudly, spreading positivity everywhere you go. Sometimes, if your home community isn’t welcoming, you have to build your own community. That’s what Chappell Roan is doing. I wish her continued success. The principled road is often the road less travelled but, as she is proving, it makes all the difference in the end.
The link to the video for Chappell Roan’s three-song music set at the NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series can be found here. The lyric videos for “Pink Pony Club”, “Hot To Go”, “Red Wine Supernova” and “Good Luck, Babe” can be found here, here, here and here.
The link to the official website for Chappell Roan can be found here.
The link to the official website for the province of Quebec can be found here.
The link to the official website for the city of Edmundston, New Brunswick can be found here.
***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com
Thanks for intriguing me too Chapell!!
I have very few regrets in my life but one of them is not learning a second language. It’s never too late Tom!
You are most welcome. She seems like quite a person. I hope being in the spotlight doesn’t change who she appears to be. As for learning French, no reason why I can’t but it isn’t always easy to teach an old dog new tricks. I am who I appear to be. 🙂