Music
Pride Month is every month at a Chrissy Chlapecka show.
There’s glitter, colors, powerful live vocals and a predominantly queer audience.
“All of my fans tend to be queer people, which is just so affirming that I’m doing something right,” Chlapecka says.
“They truly mean the entire world to me. Honestly, I don’t think I would’ve been in the place that I am as a lesbian and just as a queer person in this world if it wasn’t for all of the support that they have given me.”
With the community she’s built, you would never suspect that she once contemplated quitting music altogether.
‘Is it worth continuing music? Do people actually care?’ she had been asking herself for the better part of a year, leading into last summer.
“Then August came around and I kind of was like, ‘Chrissy, you got to whip yourself into shape, girl. We just need to fucking write something and put it out because this isn’t who I am,’” she says.
“I’m a go-getter. I’m a hustler. I’m a girl who believes in myself.”
So, she challenged herself to write an entire EP in one week. And she did.
“I’m going to write 10 songs and then I’m going to pick seven of those 10, and that’s what’s going to be out,” she says.
The result is the self-titled Christine, which was released last November. A sister project, Christine: High Voltage, was released last week. As a former theater kid, Chlapecka views the releases as “Act One” and “Act Two.”
Chlapecka hasn’t gone by her full name for the majority of her life, she says. She’s always gone by Chrissy. The name of the project is an ode to her younger self.
The title track finds Chlapecka talking to that younger self.
“‘I see what you’ve been through. I’ve seen how you struggled. I’ve seen all of the things that as an adult now, I see where you needed help,’” she says.
It was one of the first songs she wrote for the project. By addressing her inner child and remembering who she was, Chlapecka was able to access the creative energy necessary to finish the EP, she says.
Many of the songs on Christine carry that same emotional weight.
She points to the song “Apollo”: “It’s really about chasing that one glimpse of that person that is the best version of yourself.”
For Chlapecka, the best version of herself involves standing firm in the art she believes in, even when it’s not easy.
She says major labels have approached her in the past to tell her they didn’t like the direction she was taking. “Try this instead,” they would tell her.
“I’m so glad I was like, ‘Okay, then I don’t want to do that. Then I don’t need the money,’” she says.
She says she started to ignore people’s advice. After all: “Nobody is you. Nobody knows your art like you do. Nobody knows your talent, the things that you can do, and no one knows your story like you do.”
Those experiences helped lead Chlapecka to where she is today. Now, she has a message for the queer community: believe in yourself.
“The world is going to tell you you can’t do X, Y and Z,” she says. “And not only the world, but your mind is going to tell you that. Your mind is going to say you’re not capable, but the best thing you can do is just say, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to try anyway.’”
That fearlessness is why Chlapecka is on tour in the first place.
“I got dropped by an agent who told me I wouldn’t sell out shows,” she says. “And then I said, ‘Fuck you.’ And I made my own tour and I scheduled it myself last March and I sold out basically all of those shows, and I’m selling out shows now,” she says.
“I could have listened to him and said, ‘You know what? He’s right. I’m not ready. I’m not good enough.’ And I didn’t.”
Don't miss the next story: Subscribe to the Hollywood Rebound newsletter for free interviews and features on the artists shaping entertainment.