Everyone knows who Chappell Roan is. She’s one of the nation’s top pop artists. It seems like no matter where you’re at or what you’re doing, you are bound to hear one of her songs. Whether that be “HOT TO GO,” “Pink Pony Club,” “Red Wine Supernova,” you name it.
With that being said, her rise to stardom happened relatively recently. She started the year with 2.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, which is impressive in of itself. However, compared to her current monthly count of 42 million, her previous count looks like child play.
Chappell’s “big break” happened quickly and without warning. It all started with the release of her single “Good Luck Babe.” Upon release, the single from a home among the TikTok crowd, who eventually caused the song to break into the “Billboard Top 100.” This would later cause her debut album “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” to gain popularity.
Such a story of success is something that most small artists can only dream about. However, to Chappell, the whole ordeal is a nightmare.
It started in August, when Chappell shared a pair of videos on TikTok, attempting to draw hard boundaries with her fans, and eschewing all the old rules of pop-star decorum. She spoke heavily about the invasive side of her fanbase, mentioning how her family and close friends were being stalked.
A few weeks later the popstar made the news once again when she was asked the question, “Who are you supporting in this election?” Chappell explained that she rather not side with a specific candidate, encouraging her fans to do their own research.
Her answer was faced with much backlash. Fans were upset that the singer didn’t give a definitive answer to the question. Rumors about her true political identity started to pop up, rumors that she would later put to rest a week or so later.
Chappell has been very vocal about her mental health. The singer has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and severe depression. She was quoted saying. “Every big thing that happens in someone’s career happened in five months for me, my life is completely different now everything is out of whack.”
She’s not the only superstar that has been struggling with success.
Tyler, the creator’s new album “Chromakopia” tackles many sensitive issues. Tyler’s relationship with his mother, his desire to settle down, and what’s most important to this article, his experience with fame.
The song “Noid” (short for Paranoid) portrays the album’s protagonist being consumed by paranoia. He’s constantly looking around, checking behind his back, and locking his door.
The song is about Tyler’s personal experience with fame and fandom. He talks about how he’s afraid to go outside out of fear that someone may notice him. He later expanded on this in an interview.
Tyler talked about how he hasn’t been able to go out anywhere without a random person running up to him and asking for a picture.
While he usually doesn’t mind taking a quick photo with a fan, he has made mention of how some fans take it to the extreme. He talked about how fans have followed him back to restaurants, public bathrooms, and even his house.
Megastars like Chappell and Tyler aren’t the only ones that have to deal with harassment. Much smaller artists have also had to deal with craze fans.
Over fall break I had the privilege of seeing my favorite musician live in concert, Will Wood.
The announcement of the “Slouching Towards Bethlehem Tour” was a rather big deal for Will Wood fans as it marked the end of his almost two year long hiatus from music.
His hiatus started back in January 2023, for what was at the time an unknown reason. All he said was that he didn’t feel the need to continue creating music and that he managed to say everything that he wanted to say.
Fans such as myself were expecting him to talk more about the matter on tour. There had to be a deeper reason.
I went to the show in Syracuse, N.Y. When my friends and I got there, we were told to turn our phones off and put them in a bag. As someone who likes to record his favorite songs live, I was a tad bit disappointed. However, I started to understand the reasoning behind the action as soon as the show started.
One of the first songs he played was “I/Me/Myself,” his most listened to song, currently sitting at 76 million listens on Spotify. The song is very dear to Will, as it discusses the issues he has had with his gender identity. As soon as he finished the song, he started to talk about how the song’s success had affected him.
Will talked about the influx of new fans the song granted him. How it was the song that put him on the map, the song that made him a public figure.
His private life was a thing of the past, he now has millions of people watching his every action, judging him. He was now an icon. He’s placed on a pedestal, a pedestal that he believes he shouldn’t be on. He was no longer just a regular person making music, he was a musician.
Arguments were being started over him. People started to misquote him, bending his words to fit their own agenda. Fans started to call his family members private numbers, asking questions about Will.
Will Wood is not a huge artist, he has about a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Even with that comparly small number of listeners, he still underwent the same struggle as the huge stars.
Fame comes with a price, fans.
You can’t just release music anymore. Everything you do is being recorded and judged. Your privacy, your mental health, and your opinions.
Fans treat artists like they’re on a higher level of existence, unbeknownst to the artist in most cases. We demand to know every single detail about their life. We want them to agree with us.
We forget that what we see on stage and hear in the music is just an act. Behind the stories of heartbreak and identity, there’s a real person. A person who just wants to create art, a person that wants to be normal.