Chappell Roan’s rise into stardom this year has not been shy of controversy. She first started to gain more prominence in the public eye after opening for her friend, Olivia Rodrigo, on the “Guts: World Tour” American leg. The tour put Roan’s album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” into the public eye, and when she released her hit single, “Good Luck, Babe,” it catapulted her into the mainstream.
To those who have been following Chappell’s career for some time, they know how much she’s had to work to get to where she is. Her career has been years in the making and comes from a lot of hard work. However, like so many artists these days, it seems like Chappell Roan went from an indie gem to an internet sensation overnight, and while she may be grateful for the opportunity, she is not grateful for some of the side effects.
Prior to the internet, most people had gradual rises into the public eye. Now, with a single viral post or video, someone can have the spotlight thrust upon them, despite leading a relatively normal life just days before. For Chappell Roan, things like being approached by people on the street and being called by her real name (not her stage name), quickly proved to very taxing on her mental health. When she took to the internet to express that, multiple times, it seems like she was never able to get the words out in the way she wanted them to be. It led to intense backlash from people calling her ungrateful, when all she wanted to express was the bare minimum- treat her with respect and grace.
This comes along with a wave of celebrities expressing how the barriers of the internet fosters parasocial relationships that make people feel like they can say or do anything they want to a celebrity. Chappell Roan isn’t the first to plead for privacy, but she is making headlines for how she’s saying it. While many understand her frustration and feelings, it seems as if every statement she makes is being met with backlash due to the way it was worded. People complain about her harsh language when in reality, it is a struggle for an emotional person to express themselves in the way they want to.
This is where Chappell Roan’s PR team should come in and help her express herself in a way that expresses what she needs to say without all of the misconceptions. PR teams exist to protect celebrities from these types of experiences, and it seems as if Chappell Roan’s PR team is doing an extremely poor job at that. Every time she attempts to express one thing, she has to address it multiple times to get her point across in the way she wants it to, and often time it leads to responses of aggression or frustration- both of which are natural and understandable. Again, this is what her PR team should be supporting her with.
We love Chappell Roan. Her music is so raw, and it speaks to so many of us. Music speaks to so many of us because of the ways we can relate our experiences and feel seen and comforted. However, just because an artist’s music makes someone feel understood, it doesn’t give them the right to treat the artist however they want. I hope in the future we get so many more wonderful Chappell Roan songs and people treat her in a respectful and mindful way.
