Chappell Roan Tears Up On Stage: "It's Really Hard to Keep Up" With Career

The crowds have been seismic. Rolling waves of human bodies, voices frenetic, stadiums filled with fans screaming her name. From one month to the next, the crowds multiply at an exponential rate, faster and faster. And they all want one thing – to listen to Chappell Roan. But Roan’s voice is wavering. At a show this week at Raleigh, North Carolina’s Red Hat Amphitheater, while introducing “The Subway”, the new song she recently debuted at New York’s Gov Ball festival, the singer began to cry, sharing a vulnerable moment with fans:

“I guess I just want to be honest with the crowd. I just feel a little off today ‘cause I think that my career is going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up,” the singer said between breaths. “So I’m just being honest that I’m just having a hard time today. So sorry that — I’m not trying to give you, like, a lesser show. It’s just, there’s a lot… Thank you for understanding. This is all I’ve ever wanted. It’s just heavy sometimes, I think.”

And heavy is the crown that the Midwest Princess wears, but it isn’t the first time the artist has been transparent about her mental health, fame, and being an artist. In May of 2023, Roan shared this in an instagram caption (as well as a TikTok post).

“i feel emo right now and just wanted to share that i am very fortunate and grateful to have my dream job. This job is very difficult for me to process and maintain a healthy life & mindset. I already have difficulty regulating my emotions because I have bipolar 2 disorder,” she wrote. “Everything is very exciting right now and I’m realizing that success actually makes me quite uncomfortable and self conscious and I’m not sure why yet. If ur an artist (indie or not) this career is fucking hard, and I feel you.”

Roan is set to play Bonnaroo this Sunday, a festival that is shifting her away from a tent venue to the main stage just days before opening—straining under the weight of anticipated audiences. Even away from the main stages, the crowds flock to her, a magnetic force eclipsing artists with decades of fame and pressure under their belts. Just last summer, she was still working as a camp cabin counselor, her way to keep grounded. But as her star continues to rise, and Roan continues transparently sharing the struggles that come with it – hopefully, this time, fans will listen.