Pink Pony Club hitmaker Chappell Roan has admitted her critics get to her more than she lets on.
Chappell Roan has admitted the backlash she faces has started to feel personal.
The Hot To Go hitmaker – whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz – has admitted while she never used to “give a f***” about criticism, that’s changed since it appeared to be directed at her real self.
In a conversation for Interview Magazine, SZA asked Chappell if she “gave a f*** about the backlash”.
She admitted: “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.”
The Pink Pony Club pop star pointed out that fans only know her public persona rather than her true self, but it’s still a struggle.
She added: “They don’t [know Kayleigh]. But when things are taken out of context, people assume so much about you.
“I didn’t realise I’d care so much. When it comes to my art, I’m like, ‘B****, 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 b**** of our generation?’ [Laughs]”
Chappell admitted sometimes the trolls can bring her to tears.
She said: “And it makes me cry. I don’t know if it will ever feel okay to hear someone say something really hateful about me.”
Fellow musician SZA agreed, noting she’s even been worried she’s “cut not out” for life in the public eye.
She revealed: “That’s so real! Oh my god. I feel deeply relieved by what you just said because I felt like I was a punk b**** for feeling the way that I feel, because 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 f***. But that’s not true.”
SZA pointed out how she has been “misperceived” after interactions with fans that are actually “tiny vacuums of the most intense moments”, with dozens of people meeting her “in the worst emotional estate” and then making assumptions about her true self.
She explained: “They’re all going to take this with them and be like, ‘Yep, that’s who the f*** 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 s*** 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.”
Chappell Roan reveals how she really feels about ‘hateful’ backlash
