Chappell Roan once said, “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist”. With the 26-year-old’s recent rise in fame, that statement seems to be coming true. Various big names have been seen dancing along to her music at festivals and concerts, including Noah Kahan. After a rocky start, Roan’s career has blown up quickly in the past year. Roan started touring for her album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess,” in a venue that held 600 people. Jump to August 2024 and she reportedly performed for what is possibly the largest crowd ever at Lollapalooza, a festival with around 110,000 attendees each day (CNN). Her career, however, has gained traction so quickly that people have been questioning how well she is adjusting to her newfound fame.
Recently Roan has been facing some backlash after an interaction with a fan hit the media. She reportedly denied taking pictures with a fan, and the fan in question was not happy with that. People took to social media to share their thoughts– many claiming Roan wasn’t ready for, or didn’t deserve, her rise in popularity. While some people defended her, it seemed the mass was taking the fans’ side. Chappell Roan has since taken to TikTok to share some of her thoughts on the situation, though. She poses the situation to people with a question, asking them to think, “if you saw a random woman on the street…”, would you do the same to them? She adds, “Would you be offended if she says no to your time because she has her own time?” Truthfully, it seems it’s true that she did not have time to adjust to her fame. No one, including herself, expected the rapid rise in popularity. A complete change in lifestyle is not easy to adjust to, especially when you have to undergo the change in the public eye. That being said, she doesn’t owe anyone her private time, her private life. People not respecting her boundaries, boundaries she deserves to have, hasn’t helped anyone adjust to her newfound fame.
Similarly on TikTok, Roan shares, “I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous.” She continues, “That does not make it okay. That does not make it normal.” It seems that people are all about boundaries until they go against what they want. The internet truly makes people think they know public personas personally, when really they are strangers. Roan expresses this by saying, “It’s weird how people think that you know a person just cause you see them online…I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior.” Now, there are arguably some positives to this false sense of a personal relationship, but it is important for people to remember that regardless of how it feels, the general public are not friends with people in the media.
Truly, though, Chappell Roan’s words just bring light to a much bigger issue within popular culture as a whole– cancel culture and a lack of boundaries. It seems that people now expect everything to be catered to exactly what they wish to see and hear. Just as quickly as someone gains fame, it could be taken away from them. If a few people speak out about being unhappy with something, it will quickly blow out of proportion and often end with someone unfairly facing consequences stemming from this cancel culture. It’s important to remember that people in the spotlight are still normal people who need to live their lives. Just as you don’t deserve to know the life story of the stranger sitting next to you in the coffee shop, you don’t deserve to know every detail of a famous person’s life.
Chappell Roan seems to now be, at the very least attempting, to use her platform to speak out about this. While others may not speak as boldly on the issue, she has shared her piece on the matter. In fact, she seems to be using her platform to advocate for many things– including the LGBTQIA+ and women’s rights. Even though people in the public eye have the platform to speak for change, they often are too afraid to do it. It seems that Roan is not one to shy away from speaking up for herself, though. It’s about time that people start respecting those who work in the public eye, and even though people aren’t happy about it, it seems that Chappell Roan is ready to fight for her right to boundaries.
Natasha Chaillou 
Hannah Gerber