“It’s tough in my country right now,” she said.
“It’s always been tough, but Jesus f****** Christ.
“When I saw pride flags here, I was just like, ‘God, I’m so scared of the United States’, but to be here and see so many businesses with pride flags, this is f****** awesome.”
She thanked the crowd for fostering a culture “that accepts and values queer people”, noting that the visit had been grounding amid the pressures of her rapidly accelerating career.
Laneway, a six-stop touring festival throughout Australasia, held its only New Zealand date at Western Springs yesterday, with thousands of concertgoers descending on the grounds.
Roan, widely considered a global pop phenomenon, headlined the festival following a breakout year that saw her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023) soar to the top of the charts.
The album’s unexpected rise pushed Roan from the pop fringes into the mainstream, and culminated in her winning Best New Artist at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
