In a new interview, Chappell Roan dove deep into her complex feelings on fame — including how she lost her faith in humanity, and how she came to see the bright side of that loss.
In honor of being named BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2025 winner, Roan sat down with the radio station to dish on her meteoric rise to fame in 2024. That included, of course, talking through some of her more controversial moments, like her request for fans to stop harassing her in public.
When interviewer Jack Saunders asked Roan if being subject to so much criticism from the public had shaken her confidence in any way, she replied, “It knocked confidence in my faith for humanity.”
It’s a lofty statement, but Roan explained that having thought it through in therapy, losing her faith in humanity helped her come to terms with people’s behavior. “There is so much grace I’ve grown to have for people that abuse public figures. Which is really hard to say, because I don’t really expect anyone else to know how to operate around famous people — and I’m not even that famous.”
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“I understand where people are coming from, and I know they don’t know how unsafe it makes me feel, and I know they don’t know how embarrassed I am now that I’m famous. But I have grace for people who don’t understand,” she continued. “But they shouldn’t be surprised if I say no to a photo, or they shouldn’t be surprised if I’m going to stand up for myself for how famous people are treated on a red carpet, or treated by paparazzi, or treated by scalpers at the f*cking airport.”
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Re that last statement, Roan also touched on a moment that she says “completely shattered what everyone thought […] a pop star is supposed to do”: telling off a photographer on the VMAs red carpet.
“I’ve been acting that way, whether it’s the right or wrong response in that situation, but I’ve been responding that way to disrespect my whole life,” Roan explained. “But now there are cameras on me, and also I happen to be a pop star, and those things don’t match. It’s like oil and water. It’s like, ‘girl power,’ unless you’re a pop star. Because you’re not professional all of a sudden.”
To that end, Roan said she knows that she’d be much more successful if she stopped standing up for herself.
“I think that you get really successful if you are really not combative. I think actually I would be more successful if I was okay wearing a muzzle,” she explained. “I think I would be way more successful if I said yes to things that I was made to feel were, ‘You will never get this opportunity again.’ If I were to override more of my basic instinct of my heart being like, ‘Stop, stop, stop, stop. You’re not okay,’ I would be way bigger. I would be on tour right now still.”
But there are more important things than reaching maximum fame as quickly as possible, Roan continued: “The longevity of my career is not up to me, but I think the longevity of my soul being protected and me not hating myself is what is gonna stay the longest.”
Check out Roan’s full interview with BBC Radio 1 below.
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