Chappell Roan just proved why she’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist. At her first-ever MTV VMAs tonight, she delivered a show-stopping performance of her hit “Good Luck, Babe!”, complete with a theatrical concept and a little dose of fire. After a blistering intro from drag legend Sasha Colby, Roan took the stage in armor and chain mail, surrounded by backup dancers dressed as knights, and fired a crossbow into the towering castle behind her before she began singing.

Speaking to MTV on the red carpet tonight, Roan said of her performance: “I’m nervous, there’s a lot of technical things happening that I’ve never experienced before. But I feel like this is the next step in my career, so I was like, ‘Damn, OK, it feels good to be here.'” But she pulled it off, delivering a haunting, imaginative and fairytale-like performance that was unlike any other we saw that night.

Roan has experienced a meteoric rise in the last year, especially after the release of her album, The rise and fall of a Midwestern princesslast September. Since then, her popularity has only increased with the release of “Good Luck, Babe!”, festival appearances at Coachella and Gov Ball, and major buzz on social media and from fellow musicians. But with her standout VMA set, she makes her message clear: Believe the hype.

Roan is nominated for four MTV VMA Awards tonight. The singer is nominated for Best New Artist, Best Trending Video (“HOT TO GO!”), Song of the Summer (“Good Luck, Babe!”) and MTV Push Performance of the Year (“Red Wine Supernova”).

Roan spoke with Rolling Stone in an interview published earlier this week about her shock at the sudden success of her music. “I had almost a hundred thousand followers a day. At first I was in complete denial,” she said. “They literally showed me some statistics and the only thing I could do was say, ‘No, no, no. It’s not like that.’ I couldn’t say, ‘I’m going to be successful.'”

While Roan is just becoming a household name, her career is already a decade old. “What makes me so angry is that people are only now taking me seriously,” she said. “Like, ‘You know what, bitch? I did this shit and you’re just now catching up.'”

Still, the attention she gets is hard to take: “Part of me hopes I never have another hit because then no one would expect anything from me,” she said quietly, adding that despite her nervousness, she’s all in. “It’s my dream job,” she said. “I never know if it’s ever going to be like this again, and that’s kind of scary.”

Alyssa Bailey is senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees celebrity and royal coverage (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). Previously, she worked at InStyle And Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she enjoys running around Central Park, having people take #ootd photos of her, and exploring New York City.

Erica Gonzales is senior culture editor at ELLE.com, where she covers TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There’s a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.