These days, everyone is covering Chappell Roan. I’m talking about Kelly Clarkson and Miranda Lambert, Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber, Vampire Weekend, MUNA, the Kidz Bop Kids — that’s just the past week and a half. Chappell Roan, meanwhile, is covering motherfucking Heart. Salute.

Last weekend, Chappell Roan dropped out of both All Things Go festivals at the last minute, citing a tumultuous few weeks and a need to prioritize her health. But Roan returned to the road this week. She played Franklin, Tennessee on Tuesday, Rogers, Arkansas on Wednesday, and Council Bluffs, Iowa on Thursday. At the Council Bluffs show, she sang a cover she’d never done onstage before: Heart’s fearsome 1977 riff-rock opus “Barracuda.” She sang that thing, too.

Not just anybody can cover “Barracuda.” You need to have a great backing band, and Chappell Roan has that. You also need a huge voice, a ton of gravitas, and hair that looks really cool when stage fans are blowing it around. Chappell Roan has all those things, too. Below, watch fan footage of Roan’s cover and Heart’s original video.

IOWA GOT CHAPPELL’S BARRACUDA COVER pic.twitter.com/dkZ382TN5i

— alexa (@glusong) October 4, 2024