Just about everyone in downtown St. Petersburg got to see a mermaid or two last Sunday night.

Chappell Roan assigned a mermaid theme to her first-ever headlining show in the Bay area, and sure enough, local fans showed up decked out in all the pearls and seashells they could find.

The pop sensation recently came off of a tour opening for Olivia Rodrigo, so it’s no surprise that her show at Jannus Live sold out almost immediately, or that some fans began queuing on 1st Avenue N that morning.

Roan took the stage and as she opened her set with “Femininomenon,” a sparkly sea of sirens belted back at her, which would often overpower the volume of her equipment throughout the night.

Looking at the crowd, you would think that Pride came a little early this year, with glitter beards and loud-and-proud LGBTQ+ imagery and regalia across all genders. Queerness’ unapologetic presence in pop music today is unprecedented, and it’s come a long way since Katy Perry sang about kissing a girl in 2008 (that song can get a driver’s license now. Let that sink in.) Indeed, stars like Roan, MUNA and Phoebe Bridgers have carried the sapphic torch to the Billboard charts. They’re here, they’re queer, and to paraphrase Roan herself, they’re your favorite artist’s favorite artist.

Gone are the days in pop music where queer folks have to make leaps to relate to their favorite band’s lyrics. Artists no longer feel like they have to hide their sexuality in lyrical riddles, and the sense of liberation fans feel is palpable when you listen to them sing Roan’s explicitly lesbian lyrics back to her. “She showed me things I didn’t know/She did it right there/Out on the deck/Put her canine teeth in the side of my neck,” she uttered on “Red Wine Supernova.”

Roan’s queerness is at the center of her music, and her visuals and aesthetic are heavily influenced by drag, both things she talks about often in the context of her growing up in a small town in the midwest. There’s something to be said about her presence in Florida, too, especially in an era of legislative tyrades against queer expression and community in the Sunshine State. Nonetheless, even Sunday’s opening acts were Florida-based drag queens Ella Mayo, Marisol Lords and Ripp Lee.

Grassroots queer organization Queer Expressions was tabling at the venue during the show and Roan also matched the number of ticket sales with donations to For The Gworls, a nonprofit that helps members of the Black trans community pay lower copays for medications and doctor’s appointments, and even pay their rent.

Roan closed out the show with her debut hit single “Pink Pony Club,” a pure expression of queer joy and liberation. She made it pretty clear that she’s gonna keep on dancin’, but it’s likely this tour will be the last time she plays a room this small.