Halsey defends Chappell Roan amid Grammys speech criticism: “Shame on you”
Pop singer Halsey has criticised an opinion piece published by The Hollywood Reporter in response to Chappell Roan’s speech at the Grammys asking for greater label support for artists.
When Chappell Roan was announced as the Grammy’s ‘Best New Artist’, she used her speech to highlight some of the glaring issues present within the music industry, which she has experienced in the past as a struggling artist. The ‘Hot to Go’ singer took to the stage and explained that she previously promised herself that if she ever won a Grammy then she would use the platform to highlight these vital issues.
“I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music,” she said, “I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and health care, especially developing artists.”
Roan continued, “Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage and health insurance and protection.” Her speech finished with the simple statement: “Labels, we got you. But do you got us?”
The speech garnered considerable attention, particularly from The Hollywood Reporter, which published an op-ed by Jeff Rabhan. Rabhan was previously a label executive, he took issue with Roan’s speech, saying she was “misguided.”
“Her Grammy speech was a 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,” he wrote, “If labels are responsible for artists’ wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin?”
He continued, saying that the moment she stepped on stage and accepted her Grammy, she became “Part of the establishment.” He wrote, “It is disingenuous to cash a fat label check, ride meaningful industry support to mainstream success and then act like the kid who didn’t get picked for dodgeball when your name is called.”
Halsey has now come to Roan’s defence in light of the article. “I hope you’re embarrassed of the absolute personal attack that you’ve ran and disguised as critical journalism,” wrote Halsey on Instagram, “This is so far beneath the standard you should uphold as a publication.”
“An artist like Chappell who has worked for over a decade is not an ‘instant industry insider’,” Halsey continued, “And to compare the payoff of her actions to those of an industry titan with the power and financial leverage like Taylor Swift, when Chappell hasn’t even spun the block enough times to see the residuals of her long earned but sudden success, is irresponsible for someone with your experience in this industry. Shame on you. Boot licking behaviour.”
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