Chappell Roan has addressed her so-called status as a ‘villain’.
The lesbian icon recently appeared on Ts Madison’s podcast series, Outlaws, alongside her drag mother Sasha Colby, where she reflected on her record-breaking rise to fame and her refusal to conform to the pop music industry’s expectations.
Since her commercial breakthrough with ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, one of the biggest hits of 2024, Roan has faced unfair criticism for calling out “creepy” fan behaviour, confronting disrespectful photographers on red carpets, and refusing to publicly “endorse” Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. (She later clarified that she voted for Kamala, while emphasising the difference between “endorsing” and “voting.”)
With that in mind, Roan acknowledged that she’s “had, like, three [villain eras] in the past nine months.” She attributes this to being “the new girl in the pop game” and refusing to be mistreated like past stars such as Britney Spears.
“I was like, ‘I don’t give a f**k what you say to these girls who have been doing this since they were 10 and have been told this is okay, how you’re treated,’” she said. “I didn’t get famous until I was 26, so I had a lot of time to realise: this is what it’s like to be an adult and how to be respected in a job.”
Roan shared that she was treated better at her donut shop job than she has been on a red carpet, adding that “people on the news treat me worse than how the customers did.”
“When I started to say, ‘Don’t talk to me like that. I’m not gonna show up for blah. I don’t want to,’ that doesn’t mean I’m a villain or ungrateful for what I have,” she explained. “It’s like, why is this customary?”
She went on to say that the industry owes Britney, as well as stars like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, an apology for being “so evil,” but noted that this kind of treatment is still rampant.
“Do you want me to just get to the point where I become agoraphobic, or so stressed out or so anxious to perform? You want me to get to that point?” Because if I don’t say anything I will. If I do not stand up for myself, I will quit because I cannot bear this,” Roan continued.
“I cannot bear people touching me who I don’t know. I cannot bear people following me… I cannot bear people saying I’m something I’m not. That’s what’s really hard online. People just assume you’re the villain.”
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Following the success of ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, Roan’s debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess became a sleeper hit, eventually reaching number one in the UK, Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand, and securing top 10 positions in several other territories including the US.
Tracks from the album such as ‘Hot to Go!’, ‘Red Wine Supernova’ and ‘Pink Pony Club’ also became major hits, with the latter earning Roan her first UK number one.
“I’m a singer and I write songs, but I’m also a drag queen. I’ve broken many records with the girls, and I feel imposter syndrome just saying this…” she told Madison and Roan, before acknowledging a few of her impressive feats, including making history with the biggest daytime set in Lollapalooza history, winning the Grammy for Best New Artist and taking home two BRIT Awards.
“We are doing good considering I was literally dropped in 2020, working the drive-thru, and was about to give up on everything and pulled myself together. Here we are now,” said Roan. “I’m a singer altogether, but also a girly who is very against the machine, and of the industry, and very against what the pop girls are supposed to be doing.”
Roan is currently working on her highly-anticipated sophomore album, which is expected – but not confirmed – to include ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ and ‘The Giver’.
You can watch/listen to the latest episode of Ts Madison’s podcast Outlaws, featuring Chappell Roan and Sasha Colby, below.
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