Chappell Roan ‘Having a Hard Time’ Amidst Rapid Fame Ascension

Chappell Roan is the current pop music “femininomenon,” but her sudden and quick rise to success hasn’t come without struggle. As she embarks on her Midwest Princess Tour in support of her 2023 debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, the 26-year-old queer pop icon, who hails from the midwestern town of Willard, Missouri, recently opened up about the struggles of fame, admitting that she is “having a hard time.”

The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer, who last year was still working as a camp counselor, per Stereogum, got candid about her success during her stop at Raleigh, North Carolina’s Red Hat Amphitheater on Wednesday, June 12. Before launching into her newest single, “The Subway,” an emotional Roan grew teary eyed on stage as she told fans, “I just want to be honest with the crowd: I just feel a little off today.”

“I think my career is just kind of going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up. I’m just being honest… I’m having a hard time today,” she admitted. “So sorry that – I’m not trying to give you, like, 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, I think.”

Roan’s star has been on the rise in recent months. After catching attention while opening for Olivia Rodrigo on a stretch of her Guts Tour, the singer’s stardom rose in quick succession with her eye-catching viral Coachella performance and the release of “Good Luck, Babe!,” with many of her songs also going viral on social media platforms like TikTok. Roan has since gone on to perform at sold-out shows and festivals, with her recent Bonnaroo performance drawing so much interest that festival organizers decided to move her set from a medium-size “tent” stage to the Which Stage, the second largest stage at the festival. Meanwhile, at Boston Calling last month, she reportedly pulled in bigger crowds than headliners like Ed Sheeran.

The singer has grown so popular, in fact, that the Biden administration reportedly invited her perform at an LGBTQ+ Pride event at the White House. Roan revealed during her performance at the 2024 Governor’s Ball that she rejected the offer, going on to dedicate “My Kink Is Karma” to the Biden administration “as a response to the White House, who asked me to perform for Pride. We want liberty, freedom and justice for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”