Chappell Roan laughs off wardrobe moment during Forest Hills show as thong moment goes viral
The pop artist joked about forgetting her bottom was a thong during a humid Forest Hills Stadium set, as she pressed ahead with a high-energy performance that featured a Heart cover with a special guest.
Chappell Roan’s Saturday night set at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens included a moment of wardrobe humor that quickly circulated on social media. The 27-year-old Missouri-born pop artist, who is touring under the European Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour, wore a structured red corset with floral embellishments and a high-cut black thong when she looked up at the big screen and realized her bottom was exposed. Roan told the crowd, “Oh my god, I forgot my bottom was just a thong,” briefly covering her derriere before laughing it off. “I looked up on the screen and saw my a** and I was like...” she added, “It’s gone.” The moment drew laughter from fans as she rolled with the moment rather than halting the performance.
Roan pressed through a set that leaned into her punchy, feminist-tinged catalog, including songs such as Casual, The Subway and Hot to Go. The show also included a notable stage interruption that added a surprise twist: after noting that she usually covers Heart’s 1977 hit Barracuda, Roan invited Nancy Wilson, the band’s guitarist, to join her onstage for the performance. The moment underscored her long-running knack for high-concept theatrics and collaborations. In addition to the guest, Roan paused at one point to thank fans for “sticking by me” through a challenging year, saying, “It’s been quite a year. I can’t believe we’re here, honestly. It’s crazy. Thank you for sticking with me through it; I know it was… it’s been really hard.” She added that the Forest Hills date offered a sense of belonging that she craved since childhood, saying, “I just needed a place like this so bad when I was 13, 14.” Billboard canvassed the moment as part of a broader notes package on Roan’s ongoing tour.
The Forest Hills show was the first in a slate of eight U.S. pop-up dates the artist has added to her European Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour. After the Queens stop, Roan’s itinerary called for two consecutive nights in Kansas City, followed by two final shows in Los Angeles to wrap the tour. The pop-up strategy, described in coverage of the tour’s latest legs, marks Roan’s approach to bringing her theatrical staging and fearless performance style to a broader U.S. audience outside traditional venue runs.
Roan’s remarks on stage followed a year in which she has routinely courted controversy with outspoken comments about artistry, identity and social norms. Earlier this year, she drew attention during an interview on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast when she said, “All of my friends who have kids are in hell. I don’t know anyone who’s happy and has children at this age.” The remarks sparked a lively online debate, with some mothers arguing the comments were not a healthy reflection of parenting during a period of demographic change, while others defended the right to speak candidly about personal experiences. The discussion resurfaced as fans and commentators weighed the complexity of balancing artistry and personal life, particularly for a performer whose drag-inflected aesthetic and feminist lyrics have become central to her brand. The quotes in coverage attributed to the interview drew widespread attention in the months that followed, including reactions from those who felt the statements underscored generational divides around motherhood, happiness, and personal fulfillment.
The Forest Hills performance also marked an example of the touring schedule Roan has adopted in recent months—an emphasis on immersive, high-production experiences paired with intimate, pop-up style engagements. The eight U.S. dates complement a broader European run, reinforcing Roan’s status as a bold, boundary-pushing force in contemporary pop. As fans look ahead to the Kansas City nights and the Los Angeles finale, Roan’s ongoing tour remains a focal point for critics and listeners who have followed her from her Grammys appearance to the present, where a candid, sometimes provocative persona sits beside a polished live show that blends genre boundaries and theatrical flair.