More Chappell Roan thoughts…and ONLINE EVENTS NEXT WEEK: an all-patron lunchtime livestream concert, and an Ask Me Anything.
Hello loves.
A question and a few words about Chappell Roan, below…and QUICKLY, I’m announcing:
TWO ONLINE EVENTS next week, one livestream concert and one webchat/Q&A.
1. FOR ALL PATRONS:
This TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th, from 12-2pm EST live from THE BRIDGE SOUNDS AND STAGE in Cambridge, MA (with an all-patron studio audience!….we invited a handful of the guest-list tier patrons here). THIS EVENT WILL BE OPEN TO ALL PATRONS, EVEN THE FREE SUBSCRIBERS.
You can all RSVP and find the event link and archive HERE…..and I’ll remind you on the day!!!!
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/livefromthebridge
………..then…………
2.
FOR WEBCHAT TIER PATRONS {$10+}:
This THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th, from 11:11am-1:11pm EST – a casual catch-up and Ask me Anything from home.
You can RSVP and start asking questions and chatting here:
https://www.crowdcast.io/c/sept12thchattychat
….
Greetings from Boston, where I’m operating out of a zig-zag lunchbox at the moment.
There’s a lot to share, but I’m mostly just buried and trying to breathe.
The music is keeping me alive. I spent the better part of the afternoon working on an arrangement of “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan.
I’m gonna play it at you….probably on Tuesday, and I’m gonna make you all sing with me.
I need it.
As you can see above, I don’t bother to put on outfits and make-up anymore and I even leave my fucking reading glasses on when I take photos because I can’t be fucked to take them off.
But that is okay, because CHAPPELL ROAN IS ON THE JOB.
I love this artist.
I feel like she sprang from my home planet.
Speaking of Chappell….I posted this to socials the other day and wanted your feedback as well. Answer here, I am reading all the comments across the board.
I would love your thoughts on this. I have been steeping myself (and my kiddo) in Chappell Roan’s music for the past few months and it’s been both a balm, an inspiration, and a portal.
I so rarely hear new music that truly touches me – the last new album that I deeply connected with was Phoebe Bridgers’ “Punisher”, which got me through the second harrowing year alone in New Zealand, especially as I drove around alone with the kid – and this one, OOF…it’s a tourniquet that my heart needed. Just go listen to the whole of “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” from start to finish and thank me later. (Key tracks: Pink Pony Club, My Kink is Karma, Casual….but honestly, they’re all fucking grand…and I’m going to cover at least one of them a night on the upcoming solo mini–tour.)
If you’ve been following my songwriting for the last 25 years you’ll understand why I cherish this voice. Catchy, painfully and gruesomely honest, synthy, flippant, queer, unapologetic, vulnerable, risky; all the musical and lyrical things smooshed together in a package that soars.
That being disclosed, I’ve been watching with fragility, deep curiosity, and mom-worry as Chappell deals with the cost of immediate and stratospheric fame, including a whole kerfuffle in the past few days regarding the canceling of some shows.
Below, I’ve pasted the statement she made a few days ago. The press picked it up and the pundits (and Jewel) have weighed in. I’m going through a really hardcore transformation of my own as I re-tool and re-navigate my relationship with my own value, my own music, my own body and autonomy, my own naivety in the face of the world and the cultural kool-aid still flushing out of my patriarchy-molded, clogged, egotistical and attention-hungry veins. It’s been a lot. Younger artists whose work I love – Phoebe, Lorde, Billie, Chappell – they all provide a mirror for us olds as we gaze into the chasms of our own decisions. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to carve the time out, but I’m really inspired to write a piece about this for the substack if I can. So before I crack open the inkwell…talk to me about anything: Chappell, fame, parasocial pain, your own rethinking of what success means and what our culture does and doesn’t get right about it.
Always curious to know what the crowd is thinking. 🤘🔥🌈♥️
….
From Chappell’s IG:
For the past 10 years l’ve been going nonstop 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. I’ve been in too many nonconsensual physical and social interactions and I just need to lay it out and remind you, women don’t owe you shit. I chose this career path because I love music and art and honoring my inner child, I do not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path, nor do I deserve it.
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. Any other circumstance, l am not in work mode. I am clocked out. I don’t agree with the notion that l owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out-just because they’re expressing admiration.
Women do not owe you a reason why they don’t want to be touched or talked to. This has nothing to do with the gratitude and love I feel for my community, for the people who respect my boundaries, and for the love I feel from every person who lifts me up and has stuck with me to help the project get to where it is now.
I am specifically talking about predatory behavior (disguised as “superfan” behavior) that has become normalized because of the way women who are well-known have been treated in the past. Please do not assume you know a lot about someone’s life, personality, and boundaries because you are familiar with them or their work online.
If you’re still asking, “Well, if you didn’t want this to happen, then why did you choose a career where you knew you wouldn’t be comfortable with the outcome of success?”
—understand this: I embrace the success of the project, the love I feel, and the gratitude I have. What I do not accept are creepy people, being touched, and being followed.
This situation is similar to the idea that if a woman wears a short skirt and gets harassed or catcalled, she shouldn’t have worn the short skirt in the first place. It is not the woman’s duty to suck it up and take it; it is the harasser’s duty to be a decent person, leave her alone, and respect that she can wear whatever she wants and still deserve peace in this world.
I want to love my life, be outside, giggle with my friends, go to the movie theater, feel safe, and do all the things every single person deserves to do. Please stop touching. me. Please stop being weird to my family and friends. Please stop assuming things about me. There is always more to the story.
I am scared and tired. And please-don’t call me Kayleigh. I feel more love than I ever have in my life. I feel the most unsafe I have ever felt in my life.
There is a part of myself that I save just for my project and all of you.
There is a part of myself that is just for me, and I don’t want that taken away from me.
Thank you for reading this.
I appreciate your understanding and support.
###
Send thoughts.
I love you.
A lot.
xxxx
Amanda
…..
TOUR DATES:
Saturday, Sept 21st: NORTHAMPTON, MA – ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Thursday, October 17th: FAIRFIELD, CT – SACRED HEART COMMUNITY THEATRE
Saturday, October 19th: TARRYTOWN, NY – TARRYTOWN MUSIC HALL
Then….with The Dresden Dolls:
Saturday October 26 & Sunday Oct 27th: WOODSTOCK, NY – BEARSVILLE THEATER
Friday November 1 & Saturday Nov 2: BOSTON, MA – ROADRUNNER, with Gogol Bordello
On sale now at amandapalmer.net
…….