Chappell Roan has shared her thoughts on her recent success as a pop artist, saying in a new interview that she “never cared about the charts.”
It begins with Yang discussing the surge in popularity Roan has enjoyed since the release of her debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”
Amid her rise to pop stardom, Roan has recently spoken publicly about her discomfort with the “weird” and “creepy” behavior of her fans. She tells Yang that the constant attention is “really weird and really hard,” in part because her public image as an openly gay artist makes her success “automatically political.”
“I don’t know anyone who goes through this, personally,” she says. “The biggest thing is being recognized and not feeling like myself. And touring is very demanding.”
Prior to the release of her debut album, Roan had modest success as an emerging artist, though her popularity in 2024 has added a new perspective on what she thinks about the music industry.
“I never paid attention to charts or radio, but it’s so crazy how much more serious people in the industry are taking me,” she says. “I’m like, ‘I’ve been doing this all along, bitch.’”
She continues: “My career doesn’t mean anything anymore now that I have an album and a song that’s charting. I’m just like, ‘Fuck you guys for not seeing what’s really important.’ A chart is so fleeting. Everybody leaves the charts. I’m just like, ‘It’s like being valedictorian.'”
However, during the conversation, Roan says the queer fan base she reached early on has been reassuring as she’s grown in public stature.
“I feel like I have a lot of support in this situation,” she says. “Because I’ve never been myself. I’m really happy that the persona that I have, the drag version, is still very much me.”
In ZikNationIn the February issue of The Cover, Roan spoke about the importance of her fan base’s support. “The queer community is my biggest fan base, so my responsibility is to pass that on by donating a portion of ticket sales and sales in general[to LGBTQ+ charities]and participating in Pride events,” she said. “Really, I’m here to give back all the energy that the queer community has given me.”
Chappell Roan. Photo credit: Kristen Jan Wong for ZikNation
Last Friday (August 30), the “Red Wine Supernova” singer’s manager revealed in an interview that Roan was “busy writing” new music.
Nick Bobesky has spoken about the slow success of “The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess”, saying that the album was “about continuing to do what we’ve always done, which is to focus very clearly on the world of Chappell Roan”.
The album became Roan’s first album to reach number one in the UK, almost a year after its release. Her rapid rise was partly due to the global success of her one-off single “Good Luck, Babe!”, as well as her opening slot on Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts” tour.
The old one ZikNation The Cover star recently announced the cancellation of a handful of his European shows, citing “scheduling conflicts,” though his manager noted that they weren’t “stretching things out too much” and weren’t doing “a lot” of collaborations.
“That’s part of our core strategy. It’s not about, ‘Let’s do everything, let’s maximize every ounce of success that’s happening right now,’ that’s not the goal,” he continued. “The word ‘marketing’ in Chappell Roan’s world means something very different than it means to a lot of artists right now.
“She’s not an artist who asks, ‘How far can this moment go? How can I reach more people?’ It doesn’t matter to her. People feel that, which means they feel part of the success, not separate from it – or from her.”
Roan’s remarks about fan behavior earned him praise from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, who took to Instagram to call the pop star “brave.”
“This is happening to every woman I know in this industry, myself included,” Williams wrote. “Social media has made it worse. I am so grateful that Chappell is willing to address this in a real-time, concrete way. It is brave and unfortunately necessary.”
