She’s riding the career high she’s always wanted – but suddenly, the ‘Pink Pony Club’ singer-songwriter Chappell Roan is asking her adoring fans to reign it in.
Feted as the new Lady Gaga after her campy, smash-hit album saw her rocket to overnight fame, the 26-year-old Missouri native was a relative unknown at the start of the year.
Now, she’s topping every major global chart, performing in New York City and at the biggest festivals, pulling crowds of 100,000-plus.
She’s been releasing music since 2014 and, finally, she’s the focus of 24/7 adulation – something she says is ‘all I’ve ever wanted’.
But it also seems she’s quickly adopted a diva attitude to match the size of her newfound celebrity.
She’s riding the career high she’s always wanted, but suddenly, the ‘Pink Pony Club’ singer-songwriter Chappell Roan is asking her adoring fans to reign it in.
It also seems she’s quickly adopted a diva attitude to match the size of her newfound celebrity.
In a string of whining social-media post, Roan has said she’s already ‘tired’ of the attention that comes with mainstream breakthrough – particularly when she’s ‘not in work mode’ and ‘clocked out’.
You see, like any other lanyard-wearing nine-to-fiver, when she’s finished her viral Coachella set, opening for Olivia Rodrigo or performing on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, this Madonna-wannabe expects a bit of peace and obscurity.
Well, to reference her latest hit: Good Luck, Babe!
Turns out the fevered devotion of a carefully cultivated fanbase that propels you from obscurity to the big time is tricky to control.
Fans want hugs and selfies, autographs or a chance to simply shout a few words of praise at their newest icon.
‘I don’t agree with the notion that I owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out — just because they’re expressing admiration,’ she wrote in one lengthy post, after telling fans she doesn’t ‘give a f***’ if that makes her ‘selfish’.
‘I am specifically talking about predatory behavior (disguised as ‘superfan’ behavior) that has become normalized because of the way women who are well-known have been treated in the past,’ she added.
Ok, it is certainly true that some superfans become too invested – and harassment should never be tolerated.
But if Roan is feeling unsafe, perhaps she needs to ramp up her personal security – for this is, as they say, par for the course.
While she’s at it, how about hiring a new PR team before fans – the vast majority of whom will be well-meaning people – go cold on the ‘Hot to Go!’ singer.
Like any other lanyard-wearing nine-to-fiver, when she’s finished her Coachella set or opening for Olivia Rodrigo (right), this Madonna-wannabe expects a bit of peace and obscurity.
For Roan’s outburst at the flipside of fame betrays an ugly intolerance – and an unfortunate ignorance about the industry she’s chosen to dominate.
‘It’s weird how people think that you know a person because you see them online and you listen to the art they make,’ she mused.
No more weird than her own sudden U-turn.
On the way up, she was happy to overshare with the great unwashed – dishing on her demons, her ‘public’ drug use, and being a ‘f***ing freak’, as she said on a recent podcast.
Nothing was off limits, wrapped up in her ‘authentic-self’ shtick. So, is it really any surprise that many of those lapping it up now feel they know her?
In common with other stars currently dominating the culture – Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo – Roan’s success has been built on an intensely manufactured bond between her and her fanbase.
But herein lies the old-age duplicity of so many entitled celebs and their predictable slap down of the fans who represent the oxygen that fuels their privileged lives.
Blake Lively’s sneery mean-girl routine with interviewers while she’s promoting her latest rom-com is a case in point; it’s called losing perspective – and the plot.
On the way up, she was happy to overshare with the great unwashed, dishing on her demons, her ‘public’ drug use, and being a ‘f***ing freak’, as she said on a recent podcast.
Fame brings the riches, validation and opportunities well beyond the reach of the ordinary Joe, but any job has it downsides and we all have to grow up and suck it up sometimes.
Many will be surprised by Roan’s stance, particularly because of how hard-won her success has been.
Dropped from her record label in 2020 and forced to work in a donut shop, she almost had to give up on her dream.
In a Swift-helmed popscape, Roan’s 80s inspired synth-bangers undoubtedly offer something fresh. From the drag-inspired aesthetic, to her superior vocals and a body positivity that doesn’t descend into OnlyFans-esque sleaze, she has so much to sell.
Her identity as a positive lesbian role model is one she control and celebrates on her own terms rather than the sapphic fantasy male producers too often impose on straight female pop-puppets.
Plus, there’s a refreshing lack of false modesty and that irritating, simpering imposter syndrome, which many female stars claim to have. In a recent interview she joked: ‘You never really know if your art is good; just kidding I did know.’
The question is: Was she truly ready for everything that would come with meteoric success?
