SZA, Chappell Roan Talk Backlash and ‘Pressure Cooker’ of Fame

After exchanging high praise earlier this year, SZA and Chappell Roan united for a wide-ranging conversation for Interview, in which they bonded over navigating the “pressure cooker” of celebrity and how everyone actually does give a fuck. 

Near the end of the conversation — which largely found Roan asking SZA about her more spiritual side — SZA asked Roan about the agency she’s displayed throughout her career so far, the way she speaks her mind, and whether she does care about the backlash and criticism she often receives. 

“I didn’t, until people started hating me for me and not for my art,” Roan said. “When it’s not about my art anymore, it’s like, ‘They hate me because I’m Kayleigh, not because they hate the songs that I make.’ That’s when it changed.”

While Roan acknowledged that these people don’t actually know her real self, the backlash is nevertheless fueled by assumptions about who she is. Roan reiterated that she doesn’t care if people hate her music “with all [their] guts,” but more personal attacks can be cutting. “[I]t’s like, ‘Damn. Am I the most insufferable bitch of our generation?’” she jokingly said.

SZA, for her part, said it was “comforting” to know Roan did actually “give a fuck” when she often appears “superhuman” from the outside. “That’s beautiful,” SZA said, adding, “I feel deeply relieved by what you just said because I felt like I was a punk bitch for feeling the way that I feel, because I’m just like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m just not cut out for this shit.’ Because everybody else who’s cut out for this shit doesn’t give a fuck. But that’s not true.”

SZA went on to wonder if “everybody secretly gives a fuck,” especially when the nature of celebrity often leads to weird situations where it’s easy to be misperceived by a large audience. 

“[W]hen you’re seen in these tiny vacuums of the most intense moments of your life, it’s a pressure cooker,” she said. “Then it’s like, ‘Okay, this hour’s over, and you just met 35 people in the worst emotional state that you could possibly be in, and they’re all going to take this with them and be like, “Yep, that’s who the fuck she is. And we’re going to tell other people that this is who she is, also.”’ But it has no reflection on who I really am. You don’t get another time to make a second impression. People just take that shit and go and build your identity. And it’s excruciating, and it’s hurtful, and it is devastating. And I do be crying. And I needed you to say that.”

Roan and SZA have long been admirers of each other. Last year, SZA raved about Roan’s Lollapalooza performance, writing on social media, “She makes me wanna keep making new music n art forever.” Then on Call Her Daddy earlier this year, Roan called SZA her “dream collaborator,” and SZA responded in kind on social media, “Pls we must.” (No word yet on if that collaboration is in the works, but fingers crossed.)