Fans Need To Chill

Twitter, Instagram, and possibly Tiktok imploded last week when Nicki Minaj announced her retirement, presumably with the intention to start a family. (I say “presumably” because some fans don’t think this is real — some have speculated that this is a fake-out designed to pump up sales for an inevitable upcoming album that no one can confirm exists.)

Fans were emotional and took to Twitter to vent their thoughts, opinions, and pleas for her to return. And while their pleas may not be sufficient to bring Minaj back to the music industry, they revealed the low to which fan culture has fallen. Let’s face it, people: Uber-fans are the absolute worst, and everyone needs to calm down.

To be clear, there’s a difference between being “a fan” of someone’s artistry and being a “Fan.” The former is an individual who appreciates, follows, or perhaps even loves the music or acting of a talented artist. The latter is an individual so obsessed with the image of a famous person that they fail to grasp that said famous person is, in fact, a person first. What do I mean by that?

Take this incident: Shawn Mendes recently found himself running late, trapped at an airport by fans who insisted on taking a photo with him at the expense of his own immediate needs. Or people who came for Justin Bieber after he married Hailey Baldwin — apparently they really thought he needed to get back together with Selena Gomez, as though he isn’t the best person to make a decision for his own life. Or the fans who physically tore the clothes off One Direction band members.

Sensing a pattern? Fan culture has gotten to such an extreme that someone can now make a living and rack up 500,000 YouTube views “decoding” the Easter eggs in a Taylor Swift music video — at best a waste of time, at worst incredibly creepy.

It’s not difficult to comprehend why fans see no problem with seizing every opportunity they have to violate what would have once been considered to be a normal, healthy boundary. In the Instagram era when everyone is online, sharing life updates, pictures, and soul-bearing tweets, the line between what is private and what is public has become blurred. Granted, I myself used to think that when actors, singers, or any other brand of famous people become famous, their life becomes up for grabs. After all, they chose this life. Right?

Wrong. Yes, there is a certain amount of interaction with fans that is a requisite part of the job, but when those kinds of interactions cross lines into hatred over one’s marriage, impeding one from boarding a plane, or invading personal space, there’s a bigger problem at hand. Other people’s fame is not an invitation for a “Fan” to intrude by whatever means necessary. Having memorized song lyrics or being dazzled by a singer’s beauty is no justification; we’re not entitled to the lives and private space of any other individual.

The impact of obsession is also damaging for the fans themselves: Extreme behavior leads to a loss of identity. Nicknames for the group of fans? Swifties? The Beyhive? This needs to stop. You’re a person, not a member of a cult. US Magazine published an article titled “12 Times the Beyhive Attacked to Defend Beyonce.” Does Beyoncé need to be defended? Articles and arguments regularly discuss her fearlessness and confidence — why does she need an army of shrillness defending her? From whom? (Other individuals entitled to their own opinions?)

Over-the-top fan behavior leads to the kind of rabbit hole down which it is now too easy to fall. It’s easy to get lost scrolling through social media, looking at pictures of a celebrity and wishing you could be that person — or that you could meet them and express your undying love. Though it is absolutely plausible and justified for an artist’s songwriting to have carried one through a period of sadness, anxiety, or rage, does this source of support need to become all-consuming, to the point of intense preoccupation and boundary-erasure? Let an artist’s music or movies be one’s (non-obsessive) focal point — not the person. Access to that content does not entitle an individual to unfettered access to their personal lives. Y’all need to calm down.

—Staff writer Cassandra Luca can be reached at cassandra.luca@thecrimson.com.