Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you are doing well. Let's talk about a recent rant that was posted by pop's new "It Girl", Ms. Chappell Roan.

Yes, her meteoric rise to fame over the last year or so has been very fast, very insane. And despite every move she's made since then, not being perfect, at least from the outside, it would seem that she's handling this very intense wave of popularity with a lot of grace, more grace than I think some people in her position would.

Recently, Chappell took to social media to post a couple of video clips where she was essentially talking about the many social downsides that have come her way as a result of becoming so famous so fast.

"If you saw a random woman on the street, would you yell at her from the car window? Would you harass her in public? Would you go to a random lady and say, Can I get a photo with you? And she's like, No. What the fuck? And then you get mad at this random lady?"

She was also not very apologetic about it, maybe even a tad bit frustrated and aggressive, but when you take into account what she's talking about, it's not hard to see why. Being harassed online or on the street, shouted at from cars, her being stalked, having family members of her stalked or contacted on account of her being famous. Being obsessed over, being bullied, people making presumptions of her based on her music or what little they see of her on the internet or in interviews.

All of these things, especially when you are as popular as Chappell Roan is right now, can be really disruptive to leading a regular, normal, functional, average life. And while she has attained a level of fame and success that many on the outside of the music industry may look at and feel envious of, I can at least say from my own position, the spot that I'm in currently, which, again, it's not that comparable, but still, I've at least had the advantage of it coming on and snowballing very slowly. So, I feel fortunate to have had the ability to adjust to it.

Because, truth be told, a lot of the stuff that Chappell listed out in her video, I myself have also dealt with being shouted at from cars, being chased down, hounded on the street, being obsessed over, being bullied and attacked relentlessly, weird and wild and insane presumptions made of me based off of my reviews or personal opinions of the world or politics or whatever. Also, crazy slanderish shit posted about me online, too. I've been revenge-porned.

During one live show meet & greet, I was actually groped by a total weirdo psycho that needed to be removed from the premises after it happened. When I came back around again to do a speaking engagement in the same place, this fucker showed up for a second time to try to do it again. While the photo thing can be disruptive or overwhelming when it's happening again and again and again and again, it can certainly be made to be weirder than it needs to be when people are, I don't know, letting their unfiltered thoughts fly out without thinking. There are people who have asked me for a photo and have admitted in the midst of taking it that they don't really watch my videos and they pretty much just want a picture of me because other people know who I am.

There was also this one time where this dude wanted a photo, and this was by no means a professional photographer or anything like that. He just met me and he wanted a picture, but then he told me he doesn't really do photos of himself or post pictures of himself online. So he was just asking for just a picture of me standing there where he saw me, and I was like, "Bro, no." If you want a picture of me, go look for it on the internet. I mean, like a selfie where we're throwing up peace signs or something I can get, but just a random picture of me?

I think Chapel makes a fair point in light of all of this behavior that it's a little weird. You wouldn't treat a regular person in your life this way because, again, it's a stranger. They don't really owe you anything. I could listen to Midwest Princess a million times over and cry to every fucking song if I wanted to. But if I saw her on the street, while it would be cool to go up and say 'Hi,' and maybe get a picture or something like that, it's still important to remember that this person is a total stranger to me and that anything in terms of a hello, a greeting, an introduction, is them being gracious toward me and allowing me time and attention, even if it's just a little bit that I'm not owed.

I'm not entitled to somebody's time or greeting or focus just because they make some songs that I like, even if those songs mean a lot to me personally. So anytime I'm entering into a creator's bubble in that way, as a fan, as an admirer, it's important to tread lightly. And remember that at the end of the day, they're still just a person, too, who is also trying to maintain their own mental and emotional stability at all times.

In the spirit of being empathetic, the last thing I would want to do to this person whose work I admire is say anything or act in a way that would stress them out make them feel terrible. It just seems like there are a lot of very obsessive young music listeners these days who just have no sensitivity to that whatsoever and feel like because they love your music and they love your art so much, they're entitled to cross all sorts of social lines and borders and barriers that they otherwise probably wouldn't be.

Now, unfortunately, there have been a lot of reactions to Chappell's comments here saying like, 'Oh, well, you shouldn't even be famous. You're not cut out for this, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba,' which honestly, I think, says a lot about society's current day actual standards when it comes to consent and boundaries and personal space, because likely a lot of these same super fans who are obsessed and, again, crossing boundaries in other contexts and other situations would most likely fully understand the importance of and even be able to effectively argue the significance of things like consent and physical boundaries and emotional boundaries.

It's like the blueprint is there. We just need to copy and paste it over into a context where it involves not necessarily an interpersonal connection or relationship or interaction with another person or another rando or somebody connected to you by family or your friend circle. It's somebody who is a popular person because ultimately, at the end of the day, no, Ms. Roan is not a bad pop star. It's not that she's not cut out for this just because she doesn't want to be harassed, just because she doesn't want family members or loved ones stalked or hounded or contacted or chased down on the internet. Those are completely normal and sensible things to take issue with and frankly call out in a public fashion because some people really truly do need to calm the fuck down and get a grip.

The only thing I'll top this off with is despite having dealt with a lot of what's being listed, I often don't really talk about it or bring it up or address it, mostly because I feel like throwing it out there into the world isn't necessarily going to fix the problem, per se, as I feel like a lot of this behavior is being engaged in by a very small and annoying minority of individuals. The vast majority of people who consume and enjoy what I do are just doing so either passively, casually, or still in a very passionate and engaged way, but are doing so in a way that is normal and respectful and chill.

Meanwhile, the people who are going overboard, while they should most definitely be put in their place, there's most definitely a select few of them that addressing them directly in any way is only going to potentially inflame their behavior because they're, of course, looking for some rise or reaction or validation in terms of what they're doing, how they're trying to, I guess, impact me or make me react, which, again, obviously, with this rant, Chappell is not taking that route. However, I can imagine that what she's dealing with on her end is a lot more intense given the size of it and scope.

And once more, considering how quickly all these changes are happening, I don't really fault her for reacting in a very strong and negative way, given some of the behaviors that she's discussing here. Because as she says, even if they are normal and expected in a sense, because that's just what the bad apples in an audience do, it still shouldn't be normalized. It still shouldn't be acceptable. It still shouldn't be okay.

And I think I'm going to leave it there. Let me know your thoughts on all of this in the comments down below. Maybe preaching to the choir here a little bit, but I still feel like it's worth saying. You guys are the best.

Anthony Fantano, Chappell Roan, Forever.