[Photo courtesy of Lucan Furio]

By Jessica Thrasher, Contributor

Chappell Roan, winner of the 2025 best new artist Grammy award, has been consistently outspoken in her work and public appearances. She has a vividly recognizable voice and style, depicted in both her music, which embraces people of all LGBTQ+ persuasions, and her no-nonsense attitude in public appearances. Roan is committed to telling her truth, even on the Academy stage.

While accepting her Grammy, she took her time seriously and advocated for livable wages and health insurance for smaller musicians signed to major labels. During her acceptance speech, Roan states, “I demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists.”

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“It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system, and so dehumanized to not have health insurance.” She placed her Grammy on the floor, continuing, “If my label would have prioritized artists’ health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to.” She finished by asking, “labels, we got you, but do you got us?” 

Roan has since received criticism from music industry veteran Jeff Rabhan in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter for being “far too green and uniformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.” He also accuses her of making “grand statements without understanding the complexities of the issues [she’s] addressing.”

On her Instagram story, Roan responded to Rabhan’s article by challenging him to match a $25,000 donation she made to Backline, a charity organization that provides mental health resources to music industry professionals and their family members. Roan seemed to have caught the ear of fellow musicians, as Noah Kahan and Charli xcx also took to Instagram to pledge that they will be matching Roan’s donation of $25,000.