This summer, the world witnessed the rise and fall of the Midwest princess herself, Chappell Roan. Her newest album was a Femininominon on its own, but what launched her into superstardom, seemingly overnight, was the chart-topping “Good Luck, Babe,” one of the many pop songs that defined the summer of 2024.
With anything as huge as Chappell Roan’s rise to fame, critics will make themselves known. Roan’s explosion onto the scene had many people crying “nepo-baby,” a term used to imply that her success was due to nepotism or family connections. However, this could not be further from the truth. Roan had no connections in the music industry and was, at one point, dropped from her label, essentially setting her music career back to zero. It was only through her hard work and perseverance that she was able to bring her career back from the brink of failure.
More recently, Roan has come under fire for her reaction to fan behavior. After several fans displayed concerning and inappropriate behavior, she spoke publicly on her social media and expressed her dislike of this side of success. She did not feel the need to cushion her harsh critique of “fans,” which put people off, thinking she was not grateful to have gotten so far in her career. In reality, she worked hard to put her music out into the world and was understandably upset by the behavior of a few fans. The thing is, this is not something Roan alone has dealt with.
Several celebrities, who themselves had experienced the sudden rise to fame, came to her after her popularity spiked, expressing concern for the rising star and offering their support. This outpouring of support highlighted the common challenges in the industry, such as harassment, stalking and parasocial fan relationships.
Another thing she has come under fire for is her reaction to endorsement requests for the upcoming election. Her candid response to these requests was, “I have so many issues with our government in every way. There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There are problems on both sides. I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote—vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.” This answer was twisted and misrepresented as her not wanting to get involved with politics when in reality, that could not be further from the truth. She has been very transparent about her political beliefs.
In actuality, Roan never had the “fall” part of “rise and fall.” Fan reaction has slowly but surely begun turning in her favor, even more so now that she has opened up about being diagnosed with depression. Many people can see that her backlash was mostly the internet doing what it does best: causing a commotion. People without the full context of the situation were making assumptions and being pushed by an algorithm, trying to start fights. The reality is, that none of these controversies will end her career; with any luck, this Midwest princess is only just getting started.
