Chappell Roan’s rise to stardom may feel like it was overnight to those who weren’t watching. But for true fans (*humble brag*), the Midwest Princess has been working steadily on her music career for the past 10 years. But when she blew up after the Gov Ball Festival, the more cynical amongst us (me!) knew that her success would come with some heavy caveats: total access to her personal life with no complaints. But for your favorite artist’s favorite artist, she wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice.
In a recent two-part TikTok, Chappell posted a vent sesh about the treatment she has been receiving from “random” bitches in the street. “I don’t care that abuse and harassment and stalking is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous…That does not make it okay. That does not make it normal.” Queen behavior! Or so you would think. Despite everyone’s love for Chappell Roan’s anti-establishment rhetoric, ~ironically~ some fans were not happy to hear she wanted to set boundaries. Nearly 12 million views later, the internet has begun to broil with resentment.
Let’s take a deep dive into internet culture and how women celebs can’t be “overexposed,” or even complain about it, if they want success — like we’re seeing now with Chappell Roan.
Is The Internet Already Turning On Chappell Roan?
kinda sick of hearing about this lil girl lol. https://t.co/sYwgaYMQmJ
— k (@sugarwalll) August 19, 2024
Let me back up. Chappell Roan posted on TikTok on August 20, explaining why she feels frustrated by fans treating her like a bestie. Starting with an easy hypothetical: would you yell at, harass or ask for a photo with a “random woman on the street” and get mad if the “random lady” said no? Simple enough.
“Would you be offended if she says no to your time because she has her own time? Would you stalk her family? Would you follow her around? Would you try to dissect her life and bully her online?” she asks. “This is a lady you don’t know, and she doesn’t know you at all. Would you assume that she’s a good person? Assume she’s a bad person? Would you assume everything you read about her online is true?”
“I’m a random bitch. You’re a random bitch. Just think about that for a second, OK?” she concluded — but don’t worry, there was a part two. In the second video, Roan makes it clear the “random lady” she was referring to in the prior video is her. Shocker! Going on to say she doesn’t care if “this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen.”
Let’s just say the comments were turned off in both videos for a reason. The internet has not taken kindly to the call out despite it BEING A TOTAL RATIONAL FRUSTRATION. (Not biased at all.)
Much of the backlash focuses on how “ungrateful” she sounds. But there’s a crossover between how grateful a star should be and how exposed she is to the masses. As one Twitter user writes, “kinda sick of hearing about this lil girl lol.” Chappell’s quick ascension into mainstream fame has made her a constantly talked about persona. Exposure naturally grates on people, so the simple act of being in people’s feeds is just another stone on the pile. People don’t want to hear her complaints because they don’t want to hear from her if it’s not a fun little dance (“Hot To Go”) or pushback on The Establishment™. If it’s focused back on the people, it falls on unsympathetic ears.
It’s Not Giving Femininomenon
When a female celeb is everywhere all at once… well, it never seems to go well for them. Margot Robbie knew what she was doing when she decided to take a post-Barbie break from acting because “everybody’s probably sick” of seeing her. Aka, I’M AFRAID YOU’RE GONNA TURN ON ME!! Chappell has spoken frequently about feeling like she’s growing too fast and the inherent pressure to keep building. It turns out she had every right to be cautious of the industry.
If “I’m sick of hearing about this girl” rings any bells it’s because it’s been heard countless times before. Taylor Swift is always a go-to example of the hypocritical treatment of successful women. Her return to glory with the Eras tour last year led to a Times‘ Person of the Year profile that made Swifties more mainstream than ever. Now, less than a year later, she’s being accused of timing her digital releases to topple fellow female musicians from staying in the top 10. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it’s practically the blueprint for what happens when female celebs are ~overexposed.~
We must not forget Jennifer Lawrence going from the beloved, ~quirky~ Hunger Games star to being delegated cringe until she returned in triumph with hair extensions in No Hard Feelings. Even Anne Hathaway had a similar love/hate parasocial relationship with her fans, going from “theater kid” try-hard who cut off all her hair for Les Mis to shocking the world with — you guessed it — hair extensions and a starring role as a MILF in The Idea Of You. It turns out that most female celebrities are just one pixie cut away from being canceled. Of course, I don’t actually mean canceled. I mean that limbo space where stars go when the collective has decided we’re done playing with them for a while.
And this isn’t just the fate of female musicians and actresses, but with Sally Rooney’s newest book coming out this fall, let’s not forgot how the internet loved to pile on the hate when her books were turned into hit TV shows. Hipsters crawled out of the woodwork to say, “Well, actually, I think her praise is overdone.” Sure, Brad, she’s the most talked-about novelist of her generation because she’s bad at it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a hater. And being a woman doesn’t absolve you from making mistakes and being held accountable. However, women of any level of fame are allowed boundaries (no matter what Jonah Hill has to say about it.) If anything, we should be excited to see a breakout star call out stan culture for its toxic tendencies.
As Chappell says in her TikTok, “I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, OK?”
