Chappell Roan and SZA have spoken out about how they are affected by public backlash, saying it hits harder than they first thought it would.
The two spoke to one another during a new feature in Interview Magazine, published yesterday (June 17). At one part of the discussion, SZA asked the Missouri pop star whether she “gave a fuck about the backlash” she can receive from the public at times.
Opening up, Roan said: “I didn’t until people started hating me for me and not for my art. When it’s not about my art anymore, it’s like, ‘They hate me because I’m Kayleigh, not because they hate the songs that I make.’ That’s when it changed.”
“When things are taken out of context, people assume so much about you,” she continued. “I didn’t realise I’d care so much. When it comes to my art, I’m like, ‘Bitch, you can think whatever you want. You are allowed to hate it with all your guts.’ But when it comes to me and my personality, it’s like, ‘Damn. Am I the most insufferable bitch of our generation?’”
Roan has divided people with her comments in recent years. Last year, for instance, she compared fans’ behaviour to that of “an abusive ex-husband”, and before then, shared her thoughts on “weird” and “creepy” followers – calling out the “predatory behaviour” of so-called “superfans”.
She also sparked debate while attending the red carpet for the MTV Video Music Awards last year, snapping back at a rude photographer by telling them to “Shut the fuck up”.
SZA shared that she was “comforted” to hear the ‘Pink Pony Club’ singer say that she was affected by public criticism as she felt the same way.
Chappell Roan. Credit: Kristen Jan Wong for NME
“That’s beautiful. I feel deeply relieved by what you just said because I felt like I was a punk bitch for feeling the way that I feel,” she said. “I’m just like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m just not cut out for this shit.’ Because everybody else who’s cut out for this shit doesn’t give a fuck. But that’s not true.”
She continued: “When you’re seen in these tiny vacuums of the most intense moments of your life, it’s a pressure cooker. Then it’s like, ‘OK, this hour’s over, and you just met 35 people in the worst emotional state that you could possibly be in, and they’re all going to take this with them and be like, ‘Yep, that’s who the fuck she is. And we’re going to tell other people that this is who she is, also.’ But it has no reflection on who I really am.
“You don’t get another time to make a second impression. People just take that shit and go and build your identity. And it’s excruciating, and it’s hurtful, and it is devastating. And I do be crying. And I needed you to say that.”
Roan then added: “It makes me cry. I don’t know if it will ever feel okay to hear someone say something really hateful about me.”
Reflecting on the time she shouted at a photographer on the red carpet, the former NME cover star added: “I’m doing it the way I want to, but not everyone likes that. I will yell at a bitch on the carpet.
“I think that right now in my career, I’m just trying to see if the way I’ve been doing it is sustainable. Am I OK with the backlash of speaking my mind? That’s where I am right now.”
This isn’t the first time that Roan has spoken about being misunderstood by fans. In the spring she made an appearance on TS Madison’s Outlaws podcast and said that she feels like she has been made out to be a “villain” or seem “ungrateful” for speaking her mind.
“Do you want me to just get to the point where I become agoraphobic? Or so stressed out, or so anxious to perform? Do 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,” she explained.
“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. I can’t do this if I’m not trying to protect who I am. Otherwise, I will either quit or just be so severely depressed that I have to go back to the hospital.”
Both SZA and Roan have shared their praise for one another over the years too, with SZA saying that the pop star’s Lollapalooza set was something that “made me wanna keep making new music and art forever” (via Rolling Stone).
Earlier this year, Roan shared her appreciation for the R&B star too, calling her a “dream collaborator.”
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