Chappell Roan Got Real About Wanting To Step Back From Her Sudden Fame: "Not Having Money Doesn't Scare Me"

Chappell Roan spoke about her honest feelings about her "meteoric" rise to fame in a new podcast episode of Comment Section with Drew Afualo.

Though the singer has been making music for over a decade, her mainstream breakthrough came this year alongside supporting Olivia Rodrigo on her Guts tour. From previously having to move in with her parents and work at a drive-thru, her popularity skyrocketed — just look at her festival crowds or the ascent of her 2023 album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess in the recent charts.

However, it hasn't been easy. “I just want to be honest with the crowd and I just feel a little off today because I think that my career has just kind of gone really fast, and it’s really hard to keep up,” she told a crowd through tears last month. “And so I’m just being honest that I’m just having a hard time today.”

At the beginning of the interview, Chappell (real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) said that she was feeling "tired and scared," but she added, "it's nice to be able to pay my rent and pay for my friends' dinners."

Noting that she "never, ever even expected radio" play of her songs, when asked what she misses about life pre-fame, Chappell replied, "Drugs in public. That's what I miss. Rolling up, being a fucking freak at the bar, or making out with someone at the bar...I miss frolicking, obviously, because now I'm self-conscious to frolic. I miss being in Forever 21 and not being judged."

Though she goes out "in disguise" often, being by herself is another thing that Chappell misses. “People have started to be freaks — like, follow me and know where my parents live, and where my sister works,” she continued. “All this weird shit."

A few years ago, Chappell said that "stalker vibes" or "family in danger" is when she would "quit." She continued, "We're there. I've pumped the brakes honestly on anything to make me more known. It's kind of a forest fire right now. But I'm not trying to go do a bunch of shit. I just want to do things that are like this, girly time, I feel I can be myself, I don't have to be super Chappell."

When asked about any upsides of fame, she replied, "People who have been in my position feel more comfortable talking to me because they can relate on a level. People who I’ve looked up to my entire life are like peers now, which is sick. That's cool. I really never expected anything from my career but to make me happy. I've been poor, so I know I can be happy and poor. Not having money doesn't scare me, it's really just how do I make this be sustainable? All these things that are happening right now are icing on the cake, like I never thought I could fly first class."

Other perks include being invited backstage. Of one moment in particular, she added, “Miley [Cyrus] invited me to a party, and I was like, ‘You don’t know that you were my first concert when the Jonas Brothers were opening for you.'”

You can listen to the full interview here.