How Pop Stans Became Real Celebrities

This traction is the norm in 2025; any music fan is sure to find their TikTok overrun by these concert cameo moments, considering the pop music space has seen an ongoing trend of musicians taking a moment in their setlist to directly interact with fans or highlight them in some capacity, in a gimmick often associated with a particular song. Aside from Carpenter’s now ritual “Juno” arrest, Role Model’s uproarious “Where’s my Sally tonight?” has become a hallmark of his ongoing Kansas Anymore tour, where he selects a “Sally” each evening to accompany him in the dance break of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out.”

I'm still grieving the last "Apple" dance of Charli XCX’s "BRAT Tour.

Although these party tricks may just now be blowing up our phones, the practice of spoiling fans for the duration of a single verse or song has long been a staple of pop music. Justin Bieber made a routine of serenading a new fan each night during his song “One Less Lonely Girl,” who would emerge from the wings during the song’s bridge, often already in tears, and be presented with flowers. We’ve all seen the clip of a fan stunning Lady Gaga with his polished choreography when invited on stage to dance with her to “ScheiBe.” From fans matching the cadence of their favorite rappers to looking Beyonce in the eye while singing into her mic, the moments of unpolished interaction can be both humorous and feel intensely personal.

As well as placing fans in the limelight, often superfans who have waited hours to score a place at the venue’s barricade for their favorite artists, the increasingly frequent inclusion of celebrities as special guests provides a funny moment for concertgoers while also mutually benefitting artists and their teams. We all vividly remember Olivia Rodrigo rocking out with Role Model as one of his original Sallys, not to mention Conan Gray kissing him on stage at Gov Ball 2025. This is, once again, not a new practice: Some of Bieber’s lonely girls over the years have included Selena Gomez on New Year’s Eve in 2010 and his own ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Beadles, at 2009’s Jingle Ball.

When looking at the practice nowadays, it’s clear that artists’ teams understand that they are not only performing for a singular audience, but the internet itself. In a concertgoing age in which shows are immortalized through TikToks shot from every conceivable angle, these moments can count as an opportunity to tease upcoming projects or collaborations, taking advantage of the inevitable traction online.

I’d argue that the most iconic of these moments are those where fan engagement and artist strategy converge in a single moment. The “Apple” dance popularized during Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's "Sweat Tour," where a guest showcased their moves during the song through a feature on the venue’s jumbotron, comes from the viral choreography of content creator Kelly Heyer. As fun as the cameos of stars like Clairo and Chappell Roan were, perhaps the most memorable was when Heyer performed the dance herself during the artist’s Brooklyn stop on her joint tour with Troye Sivan.

It felt undeniably full-circle, a moment of shared euphoria derived from fan culture itself. It felt like an increasingly rare moment where artists and fans can hold each other’s undivided attention, where they might understand each other perfectly.

Eleanor Jacobs is PAPER's 2025 Fall Intern

Image via Getty