Chappell Roan used her speech at the 2025 Grammys to call on powerful figures within the music industry to better support up-and-coming artists’ need for health coverage. Now, her labelmate Sabrina Carpenter is heeding the call.
According to public donation records from We Got You, the new fundraising partnership between Roan and industry non-profit group Backline, the “Espresso” singer matched a donation from her fellow Island Records artist, giving $25,000 to the initiative’s efforts to “supporting accessibility of health care for artists,” and to “create a safer and more supported industry for artists to thrive.” Backline confirmed to Billboard the receipt of Carpenter’s donation.
Billboard has reached out to representatives for Carpenter for comment.
The Short n’ Sweet star’s donation also matches those of fellow pop stars Charli XCX and Noah Kahan, both of whom publicly supported Roan’s call for industry-wide health support by contributing $25,000.
“I’m inspired by you. Happy to help get the ball rolling. Money where mouth is,” Kahan wrote on his Instagram Stories, prompting Charli to follow suit by adding in her own post: “your speech at the grammys was inspiring and thoughtful and from a genuine place of care. happy to help get the ball rolling too.”
Roan started her partnership with Backline shortly after former A&R executive Jeff Rabhan criticized the singer’s Grammys speech in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, saying that Roan was both “too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.” In response, Roan publicly invited Rabhan to match her $25,000 donation to support artists in need of health insurance. “I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is,’” she wrote at the time. “Genius !!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.” (Rabhan’s name is not listed amongst the public donors to the We Got You campaign).
In a follow-up post, Roan made it clear that she never intended for her Grammys speech to bring about a “crowdfunded bandaid” to the issue, but rather for it to serve as a “call to action” for industry executives to change labels’ current policy of not providing healthcare to their signed artists.
“My mind will not be changed about artists deserving more than what’s standard in the industry,” she said in the statement. “Random dudes are allowed to criticize my Grammy speech, but they best put their money where their mouth is, otherwise MOVE out the way.”
The singer also told her fans in the statement that she did not expect them to “donate a damn penny” to the We Got You campaign — she instead highlighted the fundraiser as “one of many opportunities for the industry powers to show up for artists.” Despite her statement, a number of the singer’s fans have publicly contributed to the campaign, with one writing in their donation “I know she said not to but I’m gonna donate anyway.”
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