'I look at it now and I'm like, ‘Oh, I see what I was trying to get at’.
That's dramatic,” she laughs, “but that's what it felt like.” But when I was writing it, it was just like screaming out, or something was ripping out my skin. Roan followed School Nights with a series of well-received concert tours, including US runs alongside Declan McKenna and Vance Joy. Still, the weeks and months that followed saw Roan’s artistry wholly transformed, fusing boundless energy, nostalgic introspection, and theatrical power into a wildly original sound. And it’s all thanks to one wild night in a bar.
Not long after landing in her new city, Roan found herself at iconic gay bar The Abbey – an experience that soon altered her entire trajectory as an artist. “All of a sudden I realised I could truly be any way I wanted to be, and no one would bat an eye,” she recalls. “It was so different from home where I always had such a hard time being myself and felt like I’d be judged for being different or being creative.
