Halsey and Chappell Roan are going to bat for their fellow musicians once more.
An artist who is no stranger to criticism, both in regards to her professional and personal life, Ashley Frangipane- better known by her stage name Halsey- is not one to mince words when it comes to defending her peers online. Especially when it comes to defending other women against belittling comments coming from male commentators.
Following the publication of an article titles “Chappell Groan: The Misguided Rhetoric of an Instant Industry Insider,” which was written by Jeff Rabhan and posted to the Hollywood Reporter Wednesday evening, the internet launched into an investigation of the validity behind Chappell Roan’s viral Grammys speech, in which the singer called out predatory record companies who abuse their position in the musical food chain and take advantage of new artists who may not know what terms they are signing onto when singing their contracts.
“I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up 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 healthcare especially to developing artists,” Roan stated while accepting the Grammy for Best New Artist. “If my label would have provided help, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to.”
“Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you but do you got us?”
A quote that took the internet by storm in the days following the Grammys, and gained Roan a roar of applause and standing ovation from several artists in attendance at the ceremony itself- this speech begged labels to treat their artists better and hoped to open to door to a bigger conversation about artist/label relationships in the future.
And while most of the Internet agreed with Roan’s call to action, music executive Jeff Rabhan had a different reaction. Doubling down on the idea that labels do not owe their artists anything more than a royalty check, the 54 year old label purist put the responsibility back on the artist to take care of themselves and find their own financial stability, even going so far as to say that Roan’s current status as a Grammy winning house hold name negated her point entirely.
“If labels are responsible for artists’ wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin? Should Chris Blackwell put a mint on her pillow and tuck her in at night, too? There is no moral or ethical obligation by any standard that hold labels responsible for the allocation of additional funds beyond advances and royalties,” Rabhan ranted.
“[T]he moment she stepped onto the Grammy stage Sunday night, she was no longer the scrappy indie artist fighting from the fringes — she became part of the establishment. 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.”
And to some degree it makes sense for Rabhan to feel this way, as someone who has been in this industry longer than Roan has been alive and has profited himself off of the backs of hundreds of artists just like her during his time at Atlantic, Elektra, and his own company, Three Ring Projects. It is hard to see why someone would want a change a system that you profited from when you are so far removed from the entry point.
No one would want to ruin their own cash cow, so why would labels want to reinvent themselves when the current operating procedure has only benefited them as the taste makers and gatekeepers to the success and financial stability artists crave?
It is this sentiment that is shared by Roan’s peers- including Halsey, who took to her Instagram story mid Thursday to blast both Rabhan for writing the story and The Hollywood Reporter for posting it.
“Jeff Rabhan’s ranting, seething tantrum is loaded with assumptions and accusations that generalize the experience of every artist to that of the most successful. Our industry is comprised of thousands of voices, the elite at the very top of the class are not the example of a monolithic experience for all artists,” the singer shared.
“Advances, seldomly awarded the way they used to be, are for affording survival because your commitment to making art (the label then sells and sometimes takes an absolute majority of) precludes you from working a day job. It’s a game of investment but the investment is towards producing the materials, the person *the ORGANIC MATERIAL* that is producing that product needs access to things like health care. Shocking I know.”
This conversation is not the first time Halsey has called out the industry or how it reacts to artists when they ask for more- whether that be respect, privacy or compensation.
In 2016 the singer first commented on the cutthroat nature of the industry and the expectations that artists must work regardless of what is going on physically or mentally, sharing that she had once performed just hours after she began miscarrying due to the pressure surrounding a high profile concert early on in her career.
And even now, a near decade later- the singer muses on these same concepts in her album The Great Impersonator. Through songs such as “Lucky” (which interpolates Britney Spears’ track of the same name), “Only Living Girl in LA,” and “Lonely is the Muse” the singer examines her own relationship to fame, the music industry, and battles with both mental and physical health.
Halsey isn’t the only one clapping back at Jeff Rabhan though. Chappell Roan herself took to Instagram this morning to directly call out the executive by challenging him to match her and donate $25k to help struggling artists, tagging her publicist in the post. Letting fans know she’d keep them post on any sort of response from Rabhan, she goes on to use his own words against him.
“Mr. Rabhan I love how in the article you said “put your money where your mouth is” Genius !!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.”
Knowing she’d have all eyes on her in the coming hours from this post Roan also used the opportunity to uplift some fellow musicians that she wants to see grow, including Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again, and Baby Storme.
You can listen to Chappell Roans full Grammy speech linked above, check out all of her favorite rising artists (also linked above) and stream her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, along with Halsey’s latest release The Great Impersonator, also out now.
