Chappell Roan’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) appearance was fiery even before she took to the stage with a flame-arrow crossbow and (intentionally) set fire to the set.
Wearing head-to-toe armour, Chappell, 26, sang her breakthrough hit Good Luck, Babe! surrounded by an army of soldiers as she rocked the stage like an icon belting out her banger.
While her performance was nothing short of iconic and she won her first major award for best new artist, Chappell hit the headlines in the wake of the evening for her comments on the red carpet before the event.
In videos circulating on social media Chappell can be seen putting a rude photographer in their place after they shouted out at her as she posed for pictures.
Off camera, the photographer can be heard shouting, ‘Shut the f**k up,’ at the Pink Pony Club hitmaker, but the pop megastar wasn’t going to let him get away with it as she span around, pointed her finger and said: ‘No, you shut the f**k up!’
Then, wearing a queenly floor-length draping mesh brown dress and her long red hair wrapped in ribbons, Chappell added with a flourish of some mega-long nails: ‘No, not me b**ch.’
Fans were loving Chappell’s strong stance, and many took to social media to congratulate her on the moment.
X user @ateotbray wrote: ‘I hope Chappell keeps yelling at men in public it seems like no one wants to yell at men in public anymore.’
@ali_sivi added: ‘Chappell Roan is entering the industry with a sense of self worth that everybody applauds in other women as long as they endure mistreatment for a decade before developing it.’
They added: ‘She serves looks she serves vocals she is respectful toward people who treat her with respect. what is the issue.’
‘”Bring back mean lesbians” and you cant even handle Chappell Roan telling a paparazzi to shut up,’ pointed out @wellgoodluckbabe, shooting down critics.
Explaining her decision to hit back at the photographer later in the evening, the star told Entertainment Tonight: ‘This is quite overwhelming and quite scary.
‘I think for someone who gets a lot of anxiety around people yelling at you, the carpet is horrifying and I yelled back. I yelled back, you don’t get to yell at me like that.’
Accepting her best new artist VMA clad in another knight-like outfit this time with a chainmail hood, she thanked her family, friends, fans and the LGBTQ+ community – and had a special message for queer kids growing up in the Midwest.
Looking emotional and smiling from ear-to-ear, she said: ‘We’re at the VMAs. I wrote a speech in my diary, thank you MTV and Island Records and my team and my family and friends.
‘I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me and I dedicate this to queer and trans people who fuel pop. To the gays who dedicate my songs to someone they love or hate, and thank you to the people who are fans who listen to me, hear me when I share my joy or fears. Thank you for listening.
‘And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you. I understand you. Because I’m one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t be whatever you want to be, b***h.’
Fans reacted to her incredible performance which saw her set fire to a castle on stage, saying how iconic it was.
‘Chappell Roan wanted to give us a popstar moment and she gave us EVERYTHING,’ said @glusong.
Arriving at the events before the incident with the photographer, Chappell rocked up in a regal robe – which she later revealed was 300 years old – and one of her knights rolled out her very own vintage carpet for her to pose on. As you do.
Chappell has experienced what is probably the most stratospheric rise to pop fame of the century, as she’s rumbled along making music for 10 years now but has only just exploded.
Her fanbase organically grew and rocketed after she performed on US chat shows, taking her songs released in 2020 including Pink Pony Club into the millions of listens on Spotify in 2024.
Other songs from Chappell’s debut album – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – include Red Wine Supernova, Femininomenon, Casual, HOT TO GO! and My Kink is My Karma.
As of September this year, the Missouri-born songwriter has toured with Olivia Rodrigo, topped the charts, and acquired almost 45 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
It appears Chappell is starting off her life in the spotlight as she means to go on – by setting boundaries with fame.
In the hurricane of her meteoric summer, last month Chappell blasted ‘predatory behaviour’ from people in recent months, saying she has experienced abuse, harassment, and stalking.
Posting on Instagram, Chappell, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, said she needed to ‘draw lines and set boundaries’ with her fans due to the harassment she has been receiving.
‘For the past 10 years I’ve been going non-stop to build my project and it’s come to the point that I need to draw lines and set boundaries. I want to be an artist for a very very long time,’ she began.
‘I’ve been in too many non consensual physical and social interactions and I just need to lay it out and remind you, women don’t owe you sh**.
‘I chose this career path because I love music and art and honouring my inner child, I do not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path, nor do I deserve it.’
She continued: ‘When I’m on stage, when I’m performing, when I’m in drag, when I’m at a work event, when I’m doing press… I am at work.
Speaking to Rolling Stone for her cover star interview, Chappell candidly detailed her mental health torment, and said she even tried to take her own life.
She recalled struggling with hypomania, a common feature of bipolar II that involves elevated mood and hyperactivity.
‘I wasn’t sleeping,’ she said of the period in 2021. ‘I was on the incorrect meds. I had the energy and the delusion and realised that this app is fueled off of mental illness. Straight up.’
The following year, she entered outpatient therapy. While she’d felt suicidal at other points in her life, this was the first time she actually planned how she would end her life.
Thankfully, the singer was able to realise she needed help, forcing herself to go back to treatment straight after a gig in front of 9,000 people in San Francisco.
‘I realised I can’t live like this. I can’t live being so depressed or feel so lost that I want to kill myself. I just got my s**t together,’ she said.
Grateful for the support she received before her stardom became overwhelming, she added: ‘I would not have been able to handle any of this even a year ago today. It would’ve just been too much.’
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