Look I don’t want to be writing about Ryan Adams again. I was one of his biggest fans for a long time and I feel like I’ve given him more than enough of my time and my energy. After a string of women called him out for his harmful, awful behaviour I stopped listening to his music. I wrote a few years ago about how I struggled with guilt but was resolved to quit caring too. He even came to play in Scotland and I didn’t waver for a second. I was done. Done.
Don’t worry – I’m still done. I’m writing this post because I’m still learning my lesson. Ryan’s debacles this year have shown me that not only were we so right to cancel this man, we need to take a long hard look at the blob of narcissistic darkness we helped create and acknowledge it our own.
For anyone who doesn’t know here’s a run down of some of the ways Ryan has set fire to what was left of his dumpster career in 2025. He went on a ‘Heartbreaker’ anniversary tour and proceeded to chaotically stumble from one disastrous show to another. In Belfast he walked off stage after arguing with fans and claiming he saw camera flashes. He was barely able to finish the songs he remembered to sing. He made creepy and sexist comments to women in the crowd. In Dublin he actually asked women in the crowd to come to his hotel room. He nightly ranted about his ex-wife Mandy Moore and his ex-friend Jason Isbell.
Ireland was bad but somehow his Australian tour was a new low. Ryan aggressively berated fans and venue staff for not following his orders. He then posted online that Australia was ‘the worst country to play’ with the ‘worst people’. This was after playing to already half-empty venues.
There’s been other manic behaviour online too with Instagram lives and rants attacking fans and ex-girlfriends alike. Other strange behaviour includes buying his way to a million Instagram followers, saying he’s dying or has MS or epilepsy or has had a stroke, complaining about socialism, saying he can’t deal with camera flashes but walking a red carpet the next week, saying he’s a millionaire but also saying he needs to play live to make money.
Then last week when you think there’s nowhere else for him to go he posts a screenshot of a private email sent by Butch Walker about him. Look this email is pretty bad, it basically says Ryan should put everyone out of their misery. But instead of reading that and thinking about what you might have done to make someone say the worst possible thing about you, Ryan just immediately posts it on the Internet in an attempt to gain sympathy and attack Butch. He can’t even look himself in the mirror and take accountability for one second.
Ironic then that his rush released new album is called ‘Self-Portrait’. This is less of an album more a ramshackle collection of half finished self-pitying dirges. The cover alone is an immediate red flag. Imagine being accused of sexual exploitation and then using a cover image of a statue of naked woman being lecherously stared at by a creep. I couldn’t bear to listen to any of the songs since one glance through the lyrics was vomit-inducing enough.
The fact that all of these self-destructive meltdowns have been met with radio silence from the mainstream media is telling. No one cares. He’s not even worth a throwaway clickbait headline. The more he tries to sabotage himself to get attention the more they ignore him. I doubt they’d even post his obituary if the worst happened. That’s how low he’s fallen. He’s so far into the darkness on the edge of town that even the anti-woke, anti-cancel culture mob aren’t interested.
The best song Ryan has been involved in since his cancellation? A fan created mockery of one of his Instagram lives called ‘Oh No’.
Why do I care? Isn’t this post giving him exactly what he wants? Honestly, I I feel partly responsible. I helped create this monster. I bought this man’s music. I loved his wild, drunken antics when he was in his 20s and 30s. I worshipped every song about his mental breakdowns. My money funded his rise to fame, gave him the licence to behave this way. I saw many shows where he was an ignorant asshole and I still kept buying tickets for more.
Thankfully I woke up to reality. Any fans, venues, promoters left all need to do the same. We all have to walk away and stop funding this madness.
My advice to Ryan is the same as it was right back in 2019:
- Get off the Internet. Permanently.
- Get sober. Get to a meeting and do the steps.
- Get a therapist.
- Take time off and live on the money you’ve already made.
- Play your guitar and write songs only for yourself for a long while.
- When you’ve actually got some good songs or something meaningful to say then start recording music again. Release albums every two years max.
- Quit playing live. Unless it’s outdoors in the afternoon where no cameras can hurt you. Small venues. Support slots. Be humble. Respect your paying audience.
- Work as a producer/songwriter/guitarist. Be professional.
- Read numbers 1 to 3 again and stick with it.
- Find your humanity again. I believe you have it in you to do better.
As music fans too we need to ask ourselves what harm we do when we support artists behaving like this. Cut them loose. Let them find the light for themselves. Enough is enough.
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