A few months ago, I watched a video of apex predators close in on and devour a pair of zoo animals. Sorry – a clip of some young women interrupting a cuddling Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco on a picnic in a New York park. They didn’t ask about Gomez’s work or acknowledge her personal space, and instead went straight for what mattered: the photo. A vulnerably positioned Blanco, laid down in Gomez’s lap, seemed to dissociate, his hood pulled over his face. With someone filming the whole encounter, it was clear this wasn’t about the fans meeting an idol. It was about them maximising the potential of this moment as social media content.

Gomez has rarely complained about her fans, mostly urging them to maintain kindness and respect, which is the typical line from celebrities lest they bite the hand that feeds them. But Gomez is decidedly old-school, a Disney kid grown up. A new crop of artists are being more vocal about their fans overstepping the mark.

In the latest Rolling Stone cover story, the American musician Chappell Roan spoke of a fan who grabbed her and kissed her, fans who got hold of her flight information to be at the airport on her arrival, how her dad’s phone number was leaked online and someone called it, and how she had a stalker. All of this, understandably, has disturbed her.

Roan is not alone. Recently, a number of young artists have spoken out about increasingly entitled fan behaviour. Phoebe Bridgers recounted how a fan publicly criticised her for not taking a selfie – as she was on her way to her........

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