It was no surprise to anyone that after touring with one of the biggest stars of our generation, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan would gain a little traction. Her consistent homage to impactful drag queens and her theatrical character always seems to draw in Gen Z as they scroll passively, watching and listening to clips of her music on TikTok or seeing her run across stage without missing a beat.
There is just one element in her that makes her stand out from the rest of the pop stars in Hollywood: Roan is truly unafraid of being called different than her musical counterparts (and I believe she makes pop music fun again).
More recently, however, Roan has been under some fire about setting boundaries when it comes to interactions with fans. In a video posted on Roan’s official TikTok account, she opened up about the heavy weight and discomfort she feels from invasive fans. In the video, she criticized how fans followed her around and “stalked” her family in a demand for a photo, at the discomfort of Roan.
“I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous,” she said in one video . “It’s weird how people think that you know a person just because you see them online and you listen to the art they make … I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, okay?”
This was followed by an Instagram post where Roan reiterated that she’s “clocked out” when she’s not performing and doesn’t owe people anything when they approach her in her downtime. She reaffirmed that she loves to make music and that her never-ending support and respect from fans is amazing, but she also stated “I do not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path.” She continued, “I feel more love than I ever have in my life. I feel the most unsafe I have ever felt in my life.”
Soon after, in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Roan stated, “Part of me hopes I never have a hit again because then no one will ever expect anything from me again.” She explained that she never anticipated getting this big. And now the pressure of maintaining her image and persona is hard to manage.
But there is another part of her that knows she has made it. And there is no way to go back from the top. In the interview, she continued to explain, “It’s my dream job. I never know if it’s going to be like this ever again, which is kind of scary.”
More recently in an interview with People Magazine, it was stated that “she ‘might quit’ music if the spotlight becomes too overwhelming.” In the same interview, Roan recalled an interaction she had with two male fans who harassed her in the airport. At 5:30 am, two fans approached Roan with posters for her to sign, and she told them “I don’t sign anything at the airport, I’m sorry.” One of the men then followed her to the TSA line and started yelling “You should really humble yourself. Do you know where you are right now? Don’t forget where you came from.”
Perplexed, Roan stated “I told myself, if this ever gets dangerous, I might quit. It’s dangerous now, and I’m still going. But that part is not what I signed up for.” She later expressed that being famous feels “abusive.”
Roan’s openness and comfortable online presence could falsely lead fans into thinking they know her personally, but why does it always seem to come to a point of blatant harassment? There is such a disconnect between fans and a celebrity’s online persona versus their real person. Fans love her and want to be known by her, but it’s at the expense of Roan’s own mental health and safety.
After the several valid points Roans has made, it is no wonder why she is setting boundaries and changing the way celebrities are viewed. Roan is strong because she redefines the expectations that are held towards fame and celebrities. She is one of the few major pop stars who pushes back on giving her fans more than she is capable of. Her stance around this has become a very topical issue, as some fans are not sure if they support and respect her, or if they hate her.
And what really sucks about the whole situation is that, in the end, she is just going to be called a b*tch for speaking her mind. The inherent sexism and misogyny that women face not just in the industry, but in everyday life, is blatantly disrespectful. It all comes down to: why should a woman receive so much backlash for setting simple boundaries or standing up for herself?
Frankly, this isn’t even the first time a pop star has received backlash over something like this. Back in 2023, quick-to-fame rapper Doja Cat received hate over changing her look and style. Doja’s rise to fame isn’t that different from Roan’s, as she also blew up on TikTok with her song “Say So.” However, In July 2023, when an account on Threads asked her to share that she loved her fans, she responded, “I don’t even know y’all.” She then lost over 180,000 Instagram followers.
Doja spoke about the incident in a 2023 interview with Harper Bazaar expressing, “My theory is that if someone has never met me in real life, then, subconsciously, I’m not real to them. So when people become engaged with someone they don’t even know on the internet, they kind of take ownership over that person. They think that person belongs to them in some sense.”
This “parasocial” relationship between stars/celebrities and their fans is completely one-sided and fueled with idolization and infatuation. Most fans do understand that the relationship is one-sided and not reciprocated by the celebrity. And for the ones that don’t? Well, they are the ones who make stars like Roan want to quit the industry. Or, as Roan said in her TikTok, reminding invasive fans that she is a stranger: “I’m a random b*tch. YOU’RE a random b*tch. Just think about that for a second, okay?”