It is easy to romanticize fame. A crowd of thousands cheering, and the glitz and glam of being a star. What Roan could not romanticize was the reality of fame. Being followed around in public, self proclaimed “super fans” stalking her and calling her family. These are just a handful of things Roan has been exposed to since her sudden rise to fame, and she’s beyond tired of it.
In a now viral TikTok post, Roan spoke out, begging fans to treat her like a regular person and leave her alone. The internet’s reaction was brutal enough to encourage her to post a written statement on Instagram, which went viral again after fans criticized her for comparing herself to women being harassed in the street. Now that she has canceled her Paris and Amsterdam shows in favor of performing at the VMAs, fans feel left behind more than ever, solidifying that the world has seemingly turned against Roan.
Many people claim that Roan is not built for fame as opposed to better equipped artists like Sabrina Carpenter, who grew up in the spotlight, and arguably had slower rises to stardom. Since the comparisons first started, fans online have been posting videos of Sabrina interacting with fans as a means to criticize Roan’s position. This situation has raised many questions in regards to celebrities: Is anyone built for fame, or do they just cope with it? Do celebrities owe fans anything, even when they are not on stage? Have parasocial relationships become too normalized?
Many people have pointed out that Roan’s fears are validated from recent history where stars were killed by overarching fans. The most common examples being Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, shot dead by the president of her fan club, and Christina Grimmie, who was shot by an obsessive fan during an otherwise casual meet and greet.
While people are upset that Roan chose to cancel her shows in favor of the VMAs, it is easy to understand why an artist would choose an award show with millions tuning in as opposed to much smaller shows in cities she can always return to.
Is the comfort of fans worth more than a possibly once in a lifetime opportunity? Yes, it is true that Roan should not expect the best parts of stardom without its worst parts. But she’s not wrong to say that the parasocial relationship between celebrities and fans has been normal for far too long.
The belief that an artist owes their fans more than the products they choose to provide is a popular one. When fans trauma dump to celebrities, it is their job to react positively and say just the right things. When fans obsess over these stars day and night, and memorize every little detail of their life, it is wrong for the celebrity to ostracize such a huge fan. And yet, these fans that spend their hard earned paychecks on tickets and merchandise and post fan content to all her songs are undeniably a factor in her success.
While it is fair to say that Roan should have worded her statements kinder, it is also true that as a human being, Roan has a right to have boundaries, and want to be a normal girl who can go outside without being surrounded. Roan has a right to not feel like some animal being gawked at in a zoo, she has a right to want to be left alone when she’s walking through the streets. She has a right to feel normal. Even if fans feel as if she’s nothing close to regular, she’s still just a human being, and being a star doesn’t change that.
