Chappell Roan Had One Condition: Charli xcx Had to Play 'Boom Clap'

Charli xcx hadn’t sung her 2014 breakthrough hit live since 2023 until Roan joined her at the Kia Forum.

Chappell Roan agreed to join Charli xcx onstage in Los Angeles on one condition: a song Charli had left off her setlists for years.

The song was “Boom Clap,” Charli’s 2014 breakthrough, and the two sang it together Saturday night at the Kia Forum, Variety reported. Charli told the crowd she plays one old song every night of the tour, and that when she asked a friend to come sing one with her, the friend answered, “The only way I’m doing it is if it’s this song.”

“So you have her to thank,” Charli said, according to Variety, before Roan walked out.

That’s a bigger favor than it sounds. Variety noted that Charli tends to stay locked on her newest music in concert and seldom digs back past a couple of older tracks. Setlist.fm, which Variety cited, shows she hadn’t played “Boom Clap” live since 2023, and Rolling Stone reported it was the song’s first live outing of the “Brat” and “Music, Fashion, Film” eras.

The new stuff is the whole point of this run. “Music, Fashion, Film,” out since July 24, swaps a lot of the electronic dance sound of its smash predecessor “Brat” for guitars, in Variety’s telling. The 12-date North American arena tour behind it opened in Philadelphia on Sept. 11, was booked for a second Forum night Sunday and closes in Las Vegas.

Roan wasn’t the only surprise Saturday. PinkPantheress came out for her own “Stateside,” and the Dare joined Charli for “Guess,” the Billie Eilish remix by Rolling Stone’s account, while a cannon fired pairs of underwear into the audience.

Guests have become a habit on this tour. A weekend earlier at Austin City Limits, Rolling Stone reported, Charli brought out Tinashe, who’d never performed “Melatonin” or “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore” in concert before. But PinkPantheress and Tinashe came to sing their own songs. Roan came to pick one of Charli’s.

Now Roan gets her own L.A. stage. On Wednesday and Thursday she headlines the Super Graphic Spectacular at the Shrine Auditorium, a two-night benefit for her nonprofit, the Midwest Princess Project, which she started in 2025 to back trans youth and LGBTQ+ communities, Time Out reported. Lola Young, MUNA and Caroline Polachek are on the bill, according to The Line of Best Fit. This time, she’s the one doing the inviting.

Source: Variety, retrieved October 19, 2026. Other sources: Rolling Stone, timeout.com, thelineofbestfit.com.