Tim Walz and Chappell Roan and the Camo Hat, Explained

Mere weeks in the past, you’d by no means utter the names Tim Walz and Chappell Roan in the identical sentence. But we don’t reside in precedented occasions.

Just as Vice President Kamala Harris unexpectedly captured the zeitgeist shortly by changing into synonymous with a significant popular culture second (Charli XCX’s album brat), the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota has turn into, a minimum of to individuals on-line, related with the bombastic rising pop star Chappell Roan and her album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Yes, that sentence is as hilariously sudden because it sounds.

How did this occur? It’s a narrative that would solely unfold on social media, and the magic of camo hats and the Midwest. It’s additionally fairly revealing in regards to the vitality surrounding the Harris/Walz marketing campaign proper now—and the marketing campaign’s means to lean into the viral moments it retains creating. Here’s the whole lot it is advisable know, on this version of TL;DR.

Give me the TL;DR.

Following his announcement because the vice presidential decide for the Kamala Harris marketing campaign, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been anointed by individuals on-line as a “Midwest Princess” by followers of pop star Chappell Roan—full with a camo hat.

Wait, I would like extra. What’s the background right here?

Considering that neither Roan nor Walz have been family names like six months in the past, it’s comprehensible that you could be be completely confused.

But their meteoric rise to fame on the nationwide stage isn’t truly the one factor these two have in frequent. Both have been raised in small cities with out business connections (no nepo infants right here), each spent quite a lot of years grinding earlier than their breakout 12 months, and sure, each are from the Midwest. Specifically, Walz was born in Nebraska and has spent most of his grownup life in a small city in Minnesota, whereas Roan was born and raised in a small city in Missouri.

And they each embrace their Midwestern roots. Roan’s debut full-length album, 2023’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, touches on themes like her conservative Christian upbringing, transferring to Los Angeles to make it as an artist, and exploring her queer identity.

She instructed Variety final 12 months that she carries her roots together with her via her artwork. “I knew I wanted to place the Midwest in there simply because it’s so essential to my undertaking,” Roan stated partially. After releasing Princess in 2023, Roan’s star has been rising, first slowly, then meteorically. She’s developed an enormous fanbase, and just lately drew the largest crowd ever to Lollapalooza in Chicago.

As for Walz, he’s actually working a Midwest state, and exudes a sure heartland dad vitality that merely can’t be ignored. From his pure white tennis sneakers, to his corny but candy movies together with his daughter Hope, to his affable demeanor, Walz, to some, is the epitome of “Midwestern good.”