While her music and merch designs may have heavily inspired the marketing for Kamala Harris's presidential run (the Democratic nominee recently used "Femininomenon" in a campaign video), Chappell Roan has said that she "doesn't feel pressured" to endorse a candidate.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the pop star — who refused to perform at the White House for Pride earlier this year — revealed that the outspoken reputation that has quickly been attached to her meteoric rise to fame doesn't mean that she feels any pressure to endorse the Harris-Walz campaign like Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks and many other megawatt artists.
"I have so many issues with our government in every way," Roan told journalist Kate Solomon. "There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don't feel pressured to endorse someone. There's problems on both sides."
The artist born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz continued, "I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what's going on in your city," added that the change she most wants to see in the US this year is trans rights: "They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period."
All of these sentiments are in line with what Roan said in a Rolling Stone interview a couple of months ago, conducted shortly after a press conference from then-presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden, which she commiserated about with journalist Jon Blistein.
"I'm pretty, 'Fuck the government, and fuck everything that's going on right now,'" she said at the time, with her middle fingers in the air. "I don't have a side because I hate both sides, and I'm so embarrassed about everything going on right now." Roan also explained that she had turned down the White House invite because she "won't be a monkey for Pride," having initially considered going and reading poetry by Palestinian women in protest.
However, the performer also said in that Rolling Stone feature that she felt "lucky to be alive during an incredibly historic time period when a woman of colour is a presidential nominee." Roan said, "Right now, it's more important than ever to use your vote, and I will do whatever it takes to protect people's civil rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community. My ethics and values will always align with that, and that hasn't changed with a different nominee."