Speaking to BBC Radio 1, the Pink Pony Club hitmaker reflected on the time she called out a photographer who was shouting at celebrities on the red carpet at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.
"I was looking around, and I was like, 'This is what people are OK with all the time? And I'm supposed to act normal? This is not normal. This is crazy,'" she said.
"I think, actually, I'd be more successful if I was OK wearing a muzzle," she said with a laugh. "If I were to override more of my basic instincts, where my heart is going, 'Stop, stop, stop, you're not OK', I would be bigger.
Chappell Roan crowned winner of BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2025. The chart-topping pop superstar finishes ahead of the likes of English Teacher, Barry Can't Swim and Ezra Collective
The Missouri-born pop superstar, who has topped the UK Albums Chart, drawn historically big festival crowds and opened for Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘GUTS’ tour, has come on top of the prestigious list, almost 16 months after the release of her debut album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’.
The shortlist has been counting down all week, with Mercury Prize-winning NME Cover stars English Teacher landing at Number Five and 2025 BRIT Rising Star winner Myles Smith taking the Number Four spot.
Scottish electronic producer and DJ Barry Can’t Swim came in at Number Three, while yesterday (January 9), London-based jazz quintet Ezra Collective secured the Number Two slot.
The coveted Sound Of list is the BBC’s annual rundown of rising artists that they believe are set for big things and have “the best chance of mainstream success” in the year ahead – with this year’s selections made by a panel of industry experts and artists that included Elton John, Dua Lipa, Jorja Smith, The Blessed Madonna and Sam Smith.
Last year saw The Last Dinner Party crowned as winners, while the list has also championed the likes of FLO, Celeste, Stormzy, PinkPantheress, Adele, Lady Gaga, RAYE, The Weeknd, Blossoms, Sigrid, Billie Eilish, HAIM, 50 Cent and Lewis Capaldi over the years since it started back in 2003.
Compiled from recommendations from “184 influential music experts, including artists, DJs, radio and TV producers, journalists, streaming experts and festival bookers”, the Sound Of 2025 list features a number of acts who have dominated 2024, and some who have been established long before that.
It was previously a rule of the Sound Of list that an artist would not be eligible if they had been the lead on a UK Number One or Number Two album by the cut-off point. However, this year that rule has changed so that an artist “cannot have had more than two Top 10 albums in the UK Official Albums Chart” by 30 September 2024 – enabling Chappell Roan to be listed.
