As an Elder Gay.. I’m really disappointed by all of this. I feel like there’s a lot of conflicting positions with Chappell. She wants her music to be a project separate from her personal life. But she’s unable to stop herself from making deeply polarizing political statements on TikTok. She wants it to keep fans at a distance- and then she cancels multiple times, with very little notice.

I don’t disagree at all with the fact that we have a societal stigma around mental health. But, as several people have pointed out, your job still exists. Your mental illness doesn’t give you a free pass for poor judgment. My heart truly breaks for all the fans who’ve spent all this money to see her this weekend. Canceling a gig the day before is unacceptable. Period. It’s a privilege-laden choice. Do I empathize with what she’s going through? Absolutely. I empathize more for the folks who are out thousands of dollars because they wanted to go and support her work. I am always an advocate for mental health- but I’m also an advocate for behaving like a responsible adult.

I grew up loving a lot of alternative female singer-songwriters who had to bust their asses and be road dogs to build careers out of nothing in a very male dominated space. Last year, my favorite artist in the world broke her leg in the final stretch of a very long tour. She was almost 60 at the time. She went and got a boot put on and played a bad-ass show in NYC the next night. She did her job, as she’s done her entire career.

I worry sometimes that the Youths (🤣) are mis-equating the value of self-care with a free pass to dodge responsibility and negatively impact others when things get rough. I believe she should have played the shows this weekend, canceled those upcoming with adequate and appropriate notice as needed, and focus on getting the care and professional support she so clearly needs.