It’s one thing to look up to celebrities as inspirations but it is another to claim to truly love a celebrity and to feel as though they owe you complete insight into their personal lives. Fan culture has become a toxic relationship on both sides. Artists rely on their fans’ intense attachments to escape accountability- no matter what they do, they will always have a source of income as long as fans continue to believe in these parasocial relationships.
The term ‘parasocial relationship’ refers to the formation of an intense, all-consuming and ultimately one-sided attachment to a public figure. Chappell Roan has courageously spoken out against these damaging attachments: “I’m very turned off by the celebrity of it all.” Comparing herself to other stars, who have lived the life of an A-list celebrity for much longer, she states: “Some girls have been in this so long that they’re used to that, but I’m not that girl. I’m not gonna be a sweetie pie to a man who’s telling me to shut the f*ck up.”
Some fans have accused Chappell of being ungrateful for the privileged life she leads, to which she responds: “They think I’m complaining about my success. I’m complaining about being abused.”
But why are these parasocial relations so intense? Well, for music in particular, PR teams know that crafting a relationship between their artist and the fans allows for more profit to be made. If you feel like you know a celebrity, you’re much more likely to see more of their shows, no matter how extortionate the ticket prices may be. After all, who would abandon a true friend for the next best thing?
With Tiktok trends and overnight fame more common than ever, one can gain public attention just as quickly as they can lose it; making parasocial relationships even more crucial for a musician to maintain global fame.
In a time when an update from your favourite singer sits alongside an update from your life-long best friend, social media means it is even easier for the lines between fact and fiction to become blurred. Celebrities are brands and this extends to their social media and it is crucial to keep this in mind.
So what are the psychological impacts of these parasocial relationships? Well as we continue to stream, like, comment, artists also continue to profit. Beneath the surface, these delusional attachments are harmful on both sides. In extreme cases, celebrities are victims of stalking, particularly because musicians are no longer ‘off-work’ the second they leave the studio, instead they seem to lose privacy day by day. In less extreme cases, parasocial relationships create an air of invincibility for celebrities. This immediately brings to mind fans who respond to sexual assault allegations by clinging to the sentiment ‘innocent until proven guilty’, whilst scrutinising evidence with the intensity of a paid lawyer.
Fame, of course, comes with a price. But when that price is harmful to both the celebrity and the fans, is it perhaps time to reconsider what it means to support a musician? No amount of money spent or support given entitles a fan to a complete insight into the private lives of celebrities, nor does it warrant fans placing trust in a person they do not know.
