Jewish singer Troye Sivan Lowkey discovered Chappell Roan in 2014

I will always be proud to be an early fan of Chappell Roan. It was spring 2021 and my girlfriend (now fiancée) had just graduated from college in another state. We moved into a junior one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn together and as she does in any new stage of life, she created a Spotify playlist. That’s where I first heard “Pink Pony Club” and the second major lesbian love affair of my life began.

Over the past few months, Chappell Roan has risen to become perhaps the most famous pop star in the world. And those of us who were early fans of the self-proclaimed Midwest Princess find that to be a certain level of prestige—and bragging rights—but regardless of whether you became a Chappell Roan fan yesterday or in 2017, there’s one person who beats us all.

Queer Jewish pop star Troye Sivan secretly discovered Chappell Roan in 2014.

Here’s the story: In November 2014, 16-year-old Chappell released a song called “Die Young” on her YouTube channel. (At the time, she was releasing music under Kayleigh Rose, her first and middle names.) Shortly thereafter, Troye Sivan, a 19-year-old Jewish YouTuber who was just starting his own singing career, tweeted, “I’ve had a 16-year-old girl on repeat for two months. You NEED to listen to this, guys – send me some love.” The 16-year-old girl was Chappell Roan, and the song he linked to was “Die Young.”

He tweeted again the same day, sharing her Twitter account. “LET’S LET KAYLEIGH TAKE TO THE SKIES BECAUSE I HAVEN’T HEARD A VOICE LIKE THAT SINCE ADELE, NO EXAGGERATION,” he wrote.

The next day, Chappell took to Instagram to share that “Die Young” had received a huge spike in views and thanked Troye. “Thank you to everyone who supported my music and me! And thank you Troye Sivan,” she wrote in the caption. The pair later met sometime in 2015 (at an undisclosed location, presumably for a summit about the future of international queer pop stardom), giving us this photo of baby Chappell, baby Troye, and baby Troye’s ex-boyfriend Connor Franta.

Both Chappell and Troye from 2024 are HOTTOGO, but this photo is just adorable.

Given the history of visionary Jews in the music industry – think of the influence of producers like Rick Rubin, Mark Ronson, Jack Antonoff and, sadly, Phil Spector – it’s not entirely surprising that a megastar like Chappell Roan had a Jewish musician by his side early on. But it is quite extraordinary that the biggest gay Jewish pop star in the world today had a small part in the creation of the biggest lesbian pop star in the world today.

So, todah rabah, Troye. All we need now is a collaboration between Chappell Roan and Troye Sivan to bring things full circle.