Chappell Roan challenged the author of an op-ed critical of her speech at the Grammy Awards to match her in donating $25,000 to “struggling dropped artists.”

In a series of posts on her Instagram story early Friday, the pop singer — who after being named best new artist at Sunday’s ceremony called on record labels to provide up-and-coming musicians with “a livable wage and health care” — tagged Jeff Rabhan in a screenshot of the piece he wrote this week for the Hollywood Reporter in which he described Roan, 26, as “far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”

Rabhan, former chair of New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, went on to say that Roan had a naive understanding of the record industry’s workings — “There is no moral or ethical obligation by any standard that hold labels responsible for the allocation of additional funds beyond advances and royalties,” he wrote — before urging her to “do something about it — rather than just talk at it.”

On Instagram, Roan wrote, “Mr. Rabhan I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is’ Genius !!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.” She added that she’d “show receipts of the donations” then shouted out a handful of artists “that deserve more love and a bigger platform”: Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again and Baby Storme.

Years before Roan broke out in 2024, she was signed as a teenager and later dropped by Atlantic Records, a journey she recounted in her Grammy speech.

“I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people I had a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford health insurance,” she said to applause from fellow artists including Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Benson Boone. “It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and so dehumanized to not have health [insurance]. And if my label would’ve prioritized artists’ health, I could’ve been provided care by a company I was giving everything to.

“So, record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection,” she said.

In his op-ed, Rabhan asked, “If labels are responsible for artists’ wages, health care and overall well-being, where does it end and personal responsibility begin?” He added: “Demanding that labels pay artists like salaried employees ignores the fundamental economic structure of the business.”

“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez won best original song at the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards, which were held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., on Friday (Feb. 7).

The song, co-written by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard, the film’s writer, director and co-producer, also won the Golden Globe Award in that category on Jan. 5.

With these two wins, “El Mal” appears to be the front-runner in the race for best original song at the Oscars. The other Oscar nominees in that category are “El Camino,” also from Emilia Pérez; “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late; “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight; and “Like a Bird” from Sing Song. The latter three songs were not nominated at the Critics Choice Awards.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ acclaimed score for Challengers won the Critics Choice Award for best original score, just as it won at the Golden Globes. But it cannot win the Oscar as it wasn’t even nominated. It’s just the third film score to win both the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award and not even be nominated at the Oscars. The first two were Howard Shore’s score for The Aviator at the 2005 ceremony and Justin Hurwitz’s score for First Man in 2019. (Shore, Hurwitz and Reznor & Ross had all won best original score at the Oscars with previous films, making these shut-outs hard to understand.)

The other best original score nominees at the Oscars are Volker Bertelmann for Conclave, Daniel Blumberg for The Brutalist, Kris Bowers for The Wild Robot and John Powell & Stephen Schwartz for Wicked.

Emilia Pérez also won the Critics Choice Award for foreign language film. Zoe Saldaña, who sang “El Mal” in Emilia Pérez (with an assist from Karla Sofia Gascón), won the award for best supporting actress.

Accepting the Critics Choice Award for best original song, Camille said “This gives us such a sense of belonging. It feels so grounding. You know this awards season sometimes is so hectic, so overwhelming. I feel like saying sometimes [sings] ‘I’m just a bird.’ Thank you so much to Jacques Audiard to allow the bird in me and us to write. Thanks to the Emilia Pérez team and to Zoe, of course, for being such a great artist.”

Ducol, Camille’s romantic partner and collaborator, spoke warmly about Los Angeles in accepting the award. “We’ve been making L.A. our home over the past few months with our family and fell in love with the city and its people. We were so warmly welcomed by the community here and made lasting friendships. Of course, we were heartbroken by the fires and destruction. Now I know why I dreamed of becoming a firefighter when I was young.”

Last year’s Critics Choice Award winners in the music categories were Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer for best original score (which went on to win the Oscar) and “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie for best original song (which was Oscar-nominated, but lost to fellow Barbie song “What Was I Made For?”)

Chelsea Handler hosted the Critics Choice Awards for the third year in a row. The show was originally set for Sunday, Jan. 12, but was postponed to Sunday, Jan. 26, and then postponed again, because of wind-whipped wildfires in Los Angeles that began on Jan. 7. The three-hour show, which included awards for both film and television, aired at 7 p.m. ET/PT on E!. The show will also be available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Final-round Oscar voting extends from Feb. 11-18. The 97th Oscars, hosted for the first time by Conan O’Brien, will be held on Sunday, March 2, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The show will air live coast-to-coast at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC and streamed live on Hulu for the first time.

Here’s a complete list of nominees in film categories at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards, with winners marked. Below are nominees in the two music categories, with winners marked:

Best Song

“Beautiful That Way” – The Last Showgirl – Music by: Andrew Wyatt
Lyrics by: Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li

“Compress/Repress” – Challengers – Music by: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Lyrics by: Trent Reznor, Luca Guadagnino

WINNER: “El Mal” – Emilia Pérez – Music by: Clément Ducol, Camille
Lyrics by: Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard

“Harper and Will Go West” – Will & Harper – Sean Douglas, Kristen Wiig

“Kiss the Sky” – The Wild Robot – Music & Lyrics by: Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi

“Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez – Music & Lyrics by: Clément Ducol, Camille

Best Score

Volker Bertelmann – Conclave

Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist

Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot

Clément Ducol & Camille – Emilia Pérez

WINNER: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers

Hans Zimmer – Dune: Part Two