Music Exec Slams 'Wildly Uninformed' Chappell Roan Over Grammys Speech: 'You Are Not a Revolutionary'

Chappell Roan's speech at the 2025 Grammy Awards calling out record labels for not providing liveable wages and healthcare doesn't sit well with everyone.

Serving as a guest columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, music executive Jeff Rabhan -- who currently serves as the Executive Director of Los Angeles Academy for Artists & Music Production -- hit back at Roan, calling her "wildly uninformed."

"Roan gets respect and true appreciation for her artistry and gumption but is far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today," he writes in his column.

"She may evolve quickly, perhaps build a confab of power-wielding playmakers or even pass the torch to another leader-to-be, but 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. If labels are responsible for artists' wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin?" Rabhan questioned.

Rabhan also called out Roan for being what he sees as all talk, no action.

"Roan's call for record labels to pay artists a livable wage and provide health care was noble — but also wildly misinformed. Her rise to stardom, fueled by viral moments, major label backing and an industry desperate for the next alternative pop starlet, proves she's no longer a struggling artist," he writes. "She should do something about it — rather than just talk at it. Change is waiting to be championed, not just announced."

The music executive went on to slam the "Good Luck, Babe!" singer for ignoring the "fundamental economic structure of the business."

"Demanding that labels pay artists like salaried employees ignores the fundamental economic structure of the business. No one is forcing artists to sign deals. For the one-millionth time — if they don't like the terms, they can stay independent, own their masters and take the financial risk themselves," he added.

Rabhan wrote that Roan is not the revolutionary singer that she thinks that she is and that she is part of the oldest cliché in the music industry.

"I'll break the news: You are no longer a revolutionary fighting the power — the oldest music cliché in history — but you are positioned to do great things for artists and writers nonetheless. See? There's still room for puppy dogs and ice cream in this story," he wrote.

At the 2025 Grammy Awards, Roan picked up the award for Best New Artist, where she bested the likes of Doechii, Sabrina Carpenter and Teddy Swims for the honor. In her speech, she slammed the music industry and demanded that artists get paid a livable wage as well as get healthcare.

"I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially developing artists," she said.

"I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor. When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had ... quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and [could not] afford insurance," Roan added.

The singer shared that she had felt "dehumanized" by the system.

"Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection," she said.

Roan challenged the labels at the end of her speech by asking if they had their artists' backs like the artists have the labels' backs.

The singer has not commented on the recent callout by the music exec.

However, fellow singer Halsey has since spoke out in defense of Roan. In a post to her Instagram Stories, Halsey said that the column was a "person attack" that was "disguised as critical journalism."

She went on to share new information, stating that advances artists receive are seldom rewarded the way that they were in the past.

"If you want to profit off someone else's art; that artist should have the basic leaving means to feel safe enough to create that art," she added.

The singer ended her post by saying that Rabhan's behavior was "boot licking."

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Chappell Roan, Music, Grammys, Grammy Awards