Due to Fans’ “Stalker Vibes,” Chappell Roan Wants to Slow Her Growing Fame

Chappell Roan is everywhere—but she’s also experiencing the downside of pop stardom.

Roan recently discussed the perils of celebrity status on The Comment Section podcast with Drew Afualo. “People have started to be freaks,” she said, “[they] follow me and know where my parents live, and where my sister works.”

The 26-year-old singer/songwriter revisited an old promise for handling things if her music career led to private intrusions—or if fans ever gave off “stalker vibes.” Roan said she’s “pumped the brakes” on “anything to make me more known,” comparing her fame to a spreading “forest fire.”

Last year, Roan released her acclaimed debut The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. But Roan’s rise wasn’t exactly meteoric.

The Fall Happened Before the Rise

Growing up in Willard, Missouri, Roan landed a major record label deal while still in high school after uploading cover songs to YouTube. In 2020, she released “Pink Pony Club,” which marked the beginning of the end of her run with Atlantic Records. However, the single proved to have more significance than the impact on Roan’s music career.

While living in Los Angeles, Roan visited The Abbey, the West Hollywood gay bar that inspired “Pink Pony Club.” Atlantic dropped Roan following the single’s release, but it marked a significant shift in creative direction, aided by producer Daniel Nigro.

“Pink Pony Club” also appears on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. But Roan’s rise and fall included returning home to Missouri, working odd jobs. She returned to Los Angeles, signing a publishing deal with Sony Music. Subsequently, Nigro’s star rose thanks to the success of Olivia Rodrigo’s colossal debut Sour—an album Nigro produced and co-wrote. Roan and Nigro reconnected in California and independently released her single “Naked in Manhattan,” described by NPR as “queer girl bop.”

I know you wanted me to stay
But I can’t ignore the crazy visions of me in L.A.
And I heard that there’s a special place
Where boys and girls can all be queens every single day

The Princess of Camp

Roan uses camp in both her sound and look. She’s embraced queer culture and incorporates visuals from drag performance art into her aesthetic. Following a tour supporting Rodrigo, and performances at Coachella and Governors Ball, Roan soon found herself with a Top-10 album on Billboard. The album is 14 tracks of discovery, finding love and identity in a place you weren’t born.

Critics made comparisons to Lana Del Rey and Lorde, but Roan’s dreamy pop also recalls the earlier sounds of Radiohead and Mazzy Star. Though her early folk leanings still resonate, Roan’s music has evolved into vibrant synth-pop. She may present things from an outsider’s perspective, but the Katy Perry-styled, high-payoff choruses remain. (A strong instinct for pop songwriting threads Roan’s music.)

Hanging with Idols

The success of Roan’s debut brought redemption, fame—and an obsessive fandom. But the good has outweighed the bad. Meeting her idols has been a surreal and affirming experience.

“People who I’ve looked up to my entire life are like peers, which is sick,” she said. Roan shared with Afualo the time Miley Cyrus invited her to a party. Then Roan explained how she might have avoided the privacy invasions if she’d adopted a Hannah Montana disguise approach.

She points to Hannah Montana as an inspiration for her own goals. Occasionally, Roan has sported the character’s wig on stage. Hannah was the alter ego of Miley Cyrus’s character in the Disney Channel show and Chappell Roan is a stage name.

But it may not be the opposite side of Roan’s personality, like Hannah was for Miley. Through discovery, Chappell Roan may have just found her true self.

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