Chappell Roan on pop fame: 'I miss just walking around'

Chappell Roan on the toll of pop fame: ‘I miss just walking around being by myself’

Chappell Roan raising one arm and singing into a mic onstage in long red curly hair and drag-style makeup

July 18, 2024 11:41 AM PT

Chappell Roan says she misses walking around and being herself after becoming famous.

The 26-year-old pop singer talked about what she missed about life before she made it big, appearing on “The Comment Section With Drew Afualo” podcast Wednesday.

“[Doing] drugs in public, that’s what I miss ...,” Roan told Afualo. “Like making out with someone at the bar. … I miss probably just being in Forever 21 and not being judged. … I’m in disguise most of the time. But like, I miss just walking around being by myself. I guess being by myself is what I miss.”

Roan also discussed the invasion of privacy that comes with celebrity life.

“People are starting to be freaks like, following me, and know where my parents live and where my sister works, all this weird s—,” she said. “A few years ago I said if [it got to] stalker vibes, like family was in danger, [that] is when I would quit. And we’re there. … I’ve pumped the brakes on honestly anything to make me more known.”

A video posted on social media in June shows Roan pausing her show to tell a North Carolina crowd that she has been struggling to adjust to her rapidly growing fame. The “Hot to Go” singer told the audience she was “having an off day.”

“I just want to be honest with the crowd. ... My career is just kind of going really fast, and it’s really hard to keep up,” she said. “I’m not trying to give you a lesser show, it’s just, there’s a lot. Thank you for understanding. This is all I’ve ever wanted. It’s just heavy sometimes.”

Roan signed her first record deal with Atlantic Records at 17, then spent years building her career without immediate success.

It wasn’t until last September, with the release of her debut album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” that she began to gain significant traction. Her viral appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series in March and high-profile performances at Coachella and the Governors Ball music festival in New York solidified her status as a rising star.

But it’s not all stress. In a June video posted on TikTok, Roan talked about the support she was getting from other female pop singers amid all her troubles.

“I’m reflecting on my life and the past couple of weeks have been cuckoo,” she said. “What’s so reassuring and so f— sick is, the pop girls that you and I have loved our whole lives or have been f— stans [of] the past two or three years, a lot of them have reached out and are so supportive and girl’s girls....

“To have people I look up to reach out and offer like a friend or help, I don’t know, it’s just sick and it makes me believe in the world.”