Chappell Roan composed score for cult horror film

Pop sensation Chappell Roan has had a great summer with the release of top 10 single “Good Luck Babe!” and a win at the VMAs – not to mention her medieval-inspired performance at the awards ceremony.

But, prior to her monumental rise to stardom, Roan had been trying to ‘make it’ in the music industry for several years, with videos circulating online of performances of many of the songs we now know and love at a variety of small venues.

One of Roan’s songs also appeared in a cult horror film from 2022 titled POSIES. The synopsis for the film reads: “As people begin to ‘devolve’ into monsters, one woman attempts to hide her transformation by placing flowers under her skin.”

Directed by Rachel Stavis, the short film stars Anna Diop and Andy Favreau and premiered originally at the L.A Shorts International Film Festival to great acclaim.

Roan was commissioned to write an original and “hauntingly beautiful score” by Stavis long before the singer ended up all over our Spotify playlists. Roan’s single from 2018, ‘Bitter’, also appears in the film.

“Having Chappell Roan’s creativity and intensity strewn throughout POSIES by way of the score that she so eloquently created was a dream come true,” Stavis said in a statement.

“Our earliest discussions about this project centreed around using her greatest instrument – her voice – to create a haunting, emotional, and atmospheric depth to the film. She captured exactly what we envisioned for this and did it virtually on her first try. It was extraordinary.”

“She has an amazing gift of storytelling through music, and her composition remains one of the most unique and unforgettable elements of the film. We’re beyond grateful that she was able to create something so special – specifically for me and my audience – before her inevitable rise to fame,” Stavis continued.

Though the score is not publicly available online currently, POSIES is being re-released on October 10 on independent horror streaming platform ALTER.

The date of the re-release will coincide with the final date of Roan’s tour at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

She began ‘The Midwest Princess Tour’ last September after the release of her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

Roan wrapped up the first North American leg of the tour and headed out to Europe for a string of shows earlier this month, starting in Manchester on September 13.

Her tour was meant to begin with shows in Paris and Amsterdam but the singer cancelled the shows after what she called “scheduling conflicts” as the shows coincided with the VMAs, where she was awarded the Best New Artist award.