Chappel Roan dropped out of the sold-out All Things Go music festival on Friday, September 27th, the day before headlining. But did her fans lash out? No, they flooded her with love! This is because they support her taking care of her mental health, a fanbase switch in popular culture that must continue.
This outcome is shocking when we consider how celebrities have been treated historically. Graeme Turner in Approaching Celebrity Studies discusses the idea of celebrity as industry. He argues they become a product that “can be manufactured, marketed and traded – and not only by the promotions, publicity and media industries” (Turner, 2014, p. 14). The human is lost in the business, seen only as a commodity to churn out revenue. Considering only the productivity of a creator, canceling a sold-out show last minute would be inexcusable. But, fanbase culture has shifted in the way that they consider celebrity humanity. So, Roan’s fanbase sticking by her side despite the sudden break makes more sense now.
Earlier this year, following her Coachella performance, Roan’s popularity skyrocketed as her music climbed the charts (Caruso, 2024). It has now been months of performing to sold-out crowds and mass-viewed programs like SNL and The Tonight Show. Rightfully so, she is tired. The demanding schedule of a pop star would be difficult to balance for anyone, let alone someone who struggles with mental health.
Roan angrily commented on this routine in an interview with The Face. Referring to the exhausting music industry and artistry, she claims, “they fucking thrive on mental illness, burnout, overworking yourself, overextending yourself, not sleeping. You get bigger the more unhealthy you are. Isn’t that so fucked up?” (Cai, 2024). Her language clearly demonstrates her outrage with the system.
Her perspective on this also combats the romanticized trope of the depressed artist as illustrated in Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from this Universe to the Multiverse by Maya Phillips. The author describes “the anxious, depressed artist, forever melancholy and plagued by her demons” (Phillips, 2022, p. 190), despite how problematic this could be for the artist. By idolizing sadness, the creator is put in a box where asking for help is worse than struggling in the public eye. Roan, a victim of the system, takes issue with this figure.
Celebrities also face the problem of being thought of poorly for unstable mental health. Sickness is rarely celebrated whether that be physically or mentally. This is depicted in mainstream media, like in Anime, for example. In her book, Phillips points out the negative connotation illness holds. In Paranoid Agent, a show depicting anxiety, the main character experiences multiple struggles. The author states, “there is guilt and shame and insecurity mixed up with the anxiety and paranoia” (Phillips, 2022, p. 185), exemplifying the overlapping cynical presumptions people have about mental illness.
Because of the stigma surrounding mental illness that has been perpetuated for generations, most people likely struggle to share such personal information. This is likely amplified for celebrities, who have large platforms of fans that could potentially perpetuate hate or backlash. However, there are a few celebrities recently who have actually received heaps of support after coming forward and being vulnerable.
Despite the potential for backlash, in 2022, performer, producer, and businesswoman Selena Gomez came forward about her diagnosis. She released a documentary that takes a close look at her mental health living with bipolar disorder (BD) (Keshishian, 2022). My Mind & Me won multiple awards and received a ton of positive feedback. This groundbreaking, personal discourse caught lots of attention since it shows “a level of vulnerability you rarely see in our all-curated-everything culture” (McNeal, 2022). Fans and critics alike were elated to hear her talk about such a stigmatized subject so openly, which she continued to do on various podcasts and platforms.
That same year, Roan also publicized her struggle with bipolar II disorder in an Instagram post with a lengthy caption. To summarize, though she seldom had discussed it at that point, her mental health is an important part of her life and her music. The comment section was flooded with support from her fans, those with similar diagnoses and those without. To highlight a few, they said things like “This makes me feel seen,” “Thank you for being so open about it. It is a hard thing to talk about because there is a lot of stigma surrounding it,” and “Nothing is more important than your health. Take care ❤️🔥” (@chappellroan, 2022). As we can see, no longer are celebrities having their mental health criticized by their fans. While they may still face demanding forces from the industry, they have built up a fanbase to catch them when they fall.
Roan’s fans’ support was made clear a few weeks ago when the singer dropped out of the music festival last minute. Along with an apology, she shared that “Things have gotten overwhelming over the past few weeks and I am really feeling it” on an Instagram story post. Her fans were likely upset as some had been waiting months to see her, but they still flooded her online stream with positive comments and well wishes. Despite the efforts to create a product out of the celebrity, they are still given grace from their fanbase. Even the venue and organizers of the event were publicly supportive, putting out a statement encouraging her self-care, calling, “let’s continue to show the world that music fans support not just the art, but the artists themselves” (Greenfield, 2024). In doing this, they are aiding in the creation of a new way to discuss and approach mental health in the music industry.
As music listeners, we must continue to support the artist behind the art. Shifting from demanding an industrialized incorporated version of pop stars and stigmatizing mental health is exactly what we need to do. Instead, we can support creators and give them space and time when they need it in order for them to perform better, be more comfortable, and overall more supported.
References
Cai, D. (2024, September 16). The femininomenonal ascent of Chappell Roan. The Face. https://theface.com/music/chappell-roan-pop-music-famous-interview-good-luck-babe
Caruso, C. (2024, September 12). How Did Chappell Roan Get Famous? Biography. https://www.biography.com/musicians/a61100342/how-did-chappell-roan-get-famous
Chappel Roan [@chappellroan]. (2022, May 16). “I’m diagnosed bipolar 2 and it’s been pretty hard to keep it together and release these songs…” [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/chappellroan/p/CdooT-WhZLs/?hl=en
Greenfield, B. (2024, September 27). Chappell Roan drops out of music festival to prioritize health. Fortune Well. https://fortune.com/well/2024/09/27/chappell-roan-drops-out-of-upcoming-festival-to-prioritize-mental-health/
Keshishian, A. (Director). (2022). My Mind & Me. [Film] Apple TV+.
McNeal, B. (2022, November 4). Selena Gomez's My Mind & Me is Anything But Celebrity Fluff. Esquire. https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a41870122/selena-gomez-my-mind-and-me-documentary-review/
Phillips, M. (2022). Nerd: Adventures in fandom. Atria Books.
Turner, G. (2014). Is celebrity news, news? Sage Journals.
This was a very relevant analysis of the way Chapel Roan has publicly valued her mental health and I was really interested to hear your thoughts on the topic. I completely agree that it's important to shift away from stigmatizing pop stars' mental health to instead supporting them and their needs. Chapel Roan’s transition into becoming a pop star has been really interesting to analyze specifically because she resists the common attributes that are used to upkeep the idea of being a celebrity as an industry, as you stated. I think this deviance from the usual submissiveness to the general public’s every want, specifically in the area of mental health, is really important for forming her as a cultural formation. Since celebrities set the expectations for life, especially for younger people, she is setting up expectations that young girls should prioritize their mental health and don’t need to feel overly burdened by the needs of the people around them. This idea is incredibly significant because young girls are often taught to cater to everyone else before themselves and focus on being perceived by others in the best way possible. The courage to value your mental health is a great standard for life that I’m glad Chapel Roan is upholding!
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