EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: On Chappell Roan and the power of hyper vulnerability

Featured photo: Chappell Roan at the Vogue Theatre, November 10, 2022 by Jason Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I love Chappell Roan. I love Pink Pony Club. I love dancing to HOT-TO-GO.

But most of all, I love the artist for how she’s been handling her sudden rise to ridiculous levels of fame.

In the past few months, the pop star, who was virtually unknown a year ago, has been speaking out on social media about her changing relationship to stardom, her fans and her mental health. And it’s been nothing short of refreshing.

In posts, Roan, who is 26 years old, has talked about the need for fans to give her space, not call her by her birth name and also the impact that her sudden fame has had on her mental health.

During her performance in Raleigh on June 12, Roan gave fans an honest look into her personal thoughts.

“I think my career is just kind of going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up,” she said. “I’m just being honest, I’m having a hard time today. […] This is all I’ve ever wanted—it’s just heavy sometimes.”

And that’s absolutely normal. As a person who used to be able to go out thrifting alone (something she laments she can’t do anymore without personal security), Roan is being incredibly honest about the conflicting feelings she’s having about being so famous and loved and also so public-facing now.

She’s clapped back at photographers on the red carpet who shout rude things to celebrities and explained to fans how she’s still a human being who needs privacy and space. And how they definitely shouldn’t be trying to touch her.

In a recent interview with Billboard, Roan said that she had been diagnosed with severe depression, but that she didn’t even realize she had it!

Let’s be clear: Roan is not an anomaly. This has been happening to young musicians, actors, celebrities since the dawn of Time (Magazine).

For too long, fans, the media, the entertainment industry writ large, has treated celebrities like cogs in a machine. It’s gobbled up and spit out young pop stars like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber as we all watched. Recently, it was reported that Charli XCX was one of the first stars to reach out to Roan to talk to her about the pressures of fame. She knew what was coming.

As a fan, I’m glad and excited that Roan is speaking her truth and drawing boundaries in her life. Being a celebrity or pop star shouldn’t mean sacrificing your mental health, succumbing to burnout or being overworked. Hopefully Roan speaking out marks a shift in the entertainment industry and what is or is not acceptable in that line of work. And in the end, we can only hope that will result in better, more creative work from the artists we admire.