Chappell Roan, a queer pop music artist has been making headlines for a TikTok she made. The TikTok she posted garnered many controversial opinions after she spoke out about unruly fans.

“I don't care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous, whatever. I don't care that it's normal,” Roan said in her TikTok. “I don't care that this crazy type of behaviour comes along with the job, the career field I've chosen. That does not make it OK. That doesn't make it normal. It doesn't mean I want it. Doesn't mean that I like it.”

Everyone has boundaries, and I think in the music industry, unruly fans have been normalized. Some fans will go as far as finding out artists' hotel information, just to get a chance to meet their role models. I understand that many of these fans don’t have bad intentions, but this is a huge invasion of privacy and it’s weird that it has been normalized.

I can understand why this behaviour has been normalized, though. When we see artists being bombarded and stalked by paparazzi, it may make it seem like this behaviour is OK. But I think even paparazzi behaviour is overwhelming, and we have seen many artists, actors, and other celebrities react to paparazzi and express how uncomfortable the paparazzi's actions make them feel.

“I don't want whatever the f*ck you think you're supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity. I don't give a f*ck if you think it's selfish of me to say no for a photo or for your time or for a hug,” Roan said. “That's not normal. That's weird. It's weird how people think that you know a person just because you see them online or you listen to the art they make. That's f*cking weird. I'm allowed to say no to creepy behaviour, OK?”

This TikTok garnered a lot of attention and currently has 19 million views and 2.2 million likes.

I think as fans we watch an artist we love on social media and talk shows and feel as if we know them on a personal level, making some people think they are owed something from these artists. We don’t know these people. Even after meeting an artist at a meet and greet, or even just out and about, we still don’t know them and are not owed anything from them.

Singing is their job. Posting on social media is their job. So, when you see them out in public, they are not on the clock. They don’t need to put on a happy face and spend their free time conversing and taking photos with their fans.

Chappell Roan is using her platform and newfound stardom to create new norms and boundaries within her fan base. I love that she is willing to ruffle feathers to remain in control of her autonomy.

She has said in interviews that she never expected to gain the huge fan base she currently has and I do think Roan went from a semi-well-known artist to one of the most popular current pop stars almost overnight. I think she is learning what all this new fame means and how to handle it.

Even while coming to terms with her newfound superstardom, I give her so much credit for speaking out for herself and other artists alike. It makes me wonder if Roan didn’t speak out on this, would anyone?

She has worked hard to brand herself as unique with her stage costumes and her 80s synth-pop sound. Rather than putting on a face and a personality, she is showing us her. All she is asking is that we respect her boundaries and treat her with the same level of respect we should be showing everyone.