Not all that glitters is gold, which was made very clear at the Grammys this year. Singer Chappell Roan won Best New Artist this year. Her acceptance speech was very unexpected. She utilized her time on stage by bringing awareness to the treatment she has received through her label. Her speech brought forth a topic that is often overlooked.
Chappell Roan stepped onto the stage after winning “Best New Artist” at the 2025 Grammys. She brought up a small notebook that contained her speech. She started off thanking all who helped her career and even acknowledged her fellow nominees.
She goes on to say, “I told myself that if ever won a Grammy and I got to stand here in front of the most powerful people in music I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage, and health care especially to developing artists.”
Throughout the rest of the speech, she calls on record labels to help artists, especially new artists, have a fair environment that supports them.
No advocacy can come without backlash. Jeff Rabhan wrote about his opinion regarding the speech in The Hollywood Reporter. In his article titled, “Chappell Groan: The Misguided Rhetoric of an Instant Industry Insider,” Rabhan writes about how she is too “uninformed” to be an activist for the unfair treatment that happens within labels.
He goes on to say that Roan has not been around long enough in the industry in order to speak out about her experience. Notably, Rabhan writes, “Her Grammy speech was the hackneyed and plagiarized script of an artist basking in industry love while broadcasting naïveté and taking aim at the very machine that got her there.”
After the publication of this article, Rabhan received tremendous amounts of criticism from both artists and fans. Halsey responded to the article on Instagram. She described the article as “ranting, seething tantrum” that is “loaded with assumptions and accusations that generalize the experience of every artist to that of the most successful.”
Beyond the criticism, many artists stood behind Roan. A new non-profit organization Backline started a campaign called “The We Got You! Campaign.” This campaign advocates for the mental health and well-being of artists. Many artists inspired by Roan’s donated to the cause such as Charli XCX and Noah Kahan.
Regardless of the responses, good or bad, Chappell Roan did what she made out to do, which was bring awareness to unfair treatment. Now, many people are more informed on what goes on behind closed doors.
