The Cure’s Robert Smith talks “obsessive fan behaviour” and Chappell Roan: “It’s horrible being gawped at all the time”

nme.com:

The Cure‘s Robert Smith has discussed “obsessive fan behaviour” and Chappell Roan‘s sudden rise to fame in a new interview.The frontman commented on the impact of fame during a new interview on the Sidetracked podcast with Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw, in which he celebrated the release of the band’s latest LP, ‘Songs Of A Lost World’.He began discussing his extensive music collection but added it would be “disingenuous” to pretend he’d engaged in this year’s pop phenomenons – Charli XCX‘s ‘Brat’ summer and Chappell Roan’s debut LP ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess‘.Smith said the records aren’t aimed at him, and that “It would be kind of a bit weird if I was like ‘yeah it’s my favourite thing’.” He then added: “I think what they do as artists is really fantastic but I think that probably it would be dishonest if I said it’s what I listen to at home.”However, he went on to say he’d been aware of Roan for a long time, as well as her very sudden ascent to fame in the year since the release of her 2023 debut album.Roan has been vocal about her experiences of fame this year, venting about the normalisation of extreme fan behaviour, including “stalking, talking shit online, [people who] won’t leave you alone [and] yelling at you in public”.