Chappell Roan breaks silence over ‘villain' persona

Chappell Roan just clarified why she is perceived as a “villain.”

The pop sensation, who skyrocketed to fame by the grace of her album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, appeared on the podcast Outlaws and discussed how she refuses to shape herself according to the pop music industry’s expectations.

Ever since Roan has been under the spotlight, she has faced criticism over multiple things such as calling out “creepy” fan behaviour, confronting disrespectful paparazzi and even refusing to publicly “endorse” Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

The artist has acknowledged that she has “had, like, three [villain eras] in the past nine months,” attributing this to being “the new girl in the pop game” but is refusing to be mistreated like many other stars who came before her, 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.

The HOT TO GO! singer further explained, “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.”

“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. It’s like, why is this customary?” Roan stated.

She continued, “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.”

“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,” Chappell Roan concluded.