Miranda Lambert has always had a reputation for speaking her mind, but her recent interaction with a fan at her Las Vegas residency has sparked a lot of debate. The country music superstar paused her performance on July 15 during a show in her Velvet Rodeo residency to call out a group of fans for taking selfies during her emotional song “Tin Man.”
The moment quickly became a viral sensation, with footage showing Lambert expressing her frustration at the fans who seemed more focused on snapping selfies than enjoying the performance. “These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song. It’s pissing me off a little bit,” she said to the audience.
One of the fans involved, Adela Calin, has now spoken out about the incident. In an interview with NBC News, Calin, 43, shared that she was “appalled” by Lambert’s comment and compared it to being scolded by a teacher at school. “It felt like I was back at school with the teacher scolding me for doing something wrong and telling me to sit down back in my place,” she said.
Calin, along with her friends, had tried to take a photo before the concert started, but they were having trouble getting a good shot due to the lighting. “We were so excited because I think we had the best seats in the house in the whole theater,” Calin recalled. The group simply wanted a nice photo to remember the evening, but they ended up getting an unintended confrontation instead.
While Calin expressed disappointment over Lambert’s response, she acknowledged that the singer may have been reacting out of concern for her safety, given the rise of incidents where performers have been struck by thrown objects during concerts. Kelsea Ballerini, for example, was recently hit by a thrown item during her own show. Calin admitted that Lambert’s heightened awareness might have played a role in her reaction.
To share her side of the story, Calin posted the photos she and her friends had taken during the concert on Instagram, which show them enjoying the show with Lambert in the background. In the caption, she wrote, “These are the 2 pictures we were talking about when Miranda Lambert stopped her concert and told us to sit down and not take selfies.”
Although Calin’s experience may have been jarring, it highlights the growing tension between fans’ desire to capture the moment and performers’ need for respect and focus during their shows. As more incidents arise concerning fan behavior at concerts, it seems that performers, including Lambert, are becoming more vigilant in their efforts to maintain control of the experience.