The lesbian pop-star has opened up about her childhood in the American Midwest
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY WIKICOMMONS
Chappell Roan, your favourite artist’s favourite artist, revealed how she struggled with her sexuality growing up.
In an interview with The Guardian, Roan spoke about how “lonely” and depressed she was growing up without a lot of queer influences. “I was very, very lonely,” she said.
“When I was growing up, it was like, gay means flamboyant, gay man and lesbian means butch girl who looks masculine. There was not an array of queerness.”
She added that she was desperate to be understood. “I pushed down the gay part of myself so deep because I was like, that can’t possibly be me.”
This made her feel “suicidal for years”. But when she moved to LA and started to visit drag bars, Roan said she felt she had finally found her people and was more comfortable acknowledging her sexuality. “Drag is like a spa for my soul,” she explained.
Roan soon began to incorporate drag into her own performances and released Pink Pony Club about her experiences. The song, along with the rest of her album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, has shot the pop-star to stratospheric heights of fame.
The singer is beloved by queer fans for creating a safe community for them. However, due to her sudden and steep rise to fame, Roan says her own feelings of safety have been taken away. She spoke out publicly earlier this summer about how she’s been stalked and harassed and reminded her fans via TikTok that this was not okay.
@chappellroan ♬ original sound – chappell roan
In the interview with The Guardian, she added that people have criticised her for complaining about her success but that was not what she said. “I was complaining about being abused.”
But many of Roan’s fans have also said they admire the singer for what she’s said. The Guardian quoted one fan who said Roan was “probably the only artist that’s really standing up for things that no one else is wanting to talk about”.
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