If you’ve logged onto Instagram or X in the past few hours, you’ve probably seen everyone posting about the Guts World Tour announcement. Set to begin in early 2024, our favorite teen angst icon Olivia Rodrigo will perform her hit sophomore album in arenas around the globe. With this new tour, fans are freaking out that the pop star will soon be coming to a city near them with some pretty cool opening acts.
One of Rodrigo’s opening acts stands out as another rising pop princess: Chappell Roan. Roan is the brainchild of singer Kayleigh Amstutz, whose debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, comes out later this year. One of Roan’s most popular songs, “Casual,” stands out in her discography as one of her most personal and honest songs. Trust me, if you’ve never listened to Chappell Roan, you’re going to want to after hearing this song.
“Casual” is about a situationship that is more than what the title says it is.
In “Casual,”Roan sings about the struggles of being involved in a situationship where one person feels like it can be way more than what it’s labeled as. Roan breathlessly sings “You said no attachment, but we’re casual” as she reflects on the past conversations she’s had with her situationship.
The frustration also is expressed throughout life moments Roan and her situationship go through together in their whirlwind romance. Roan recalls meeting her situationship’s “parents at dinner,” only for them to tell all of their friends that the two of them are only dating each other casually. The song reveals the pair’s intimacy throughout the course of their relationship, where Roan finds herself falling more in love with her situationship, only for those feelings to not be reciprocated.
The song focuses on the smaller details of the situationship that lead Roan to believe it could be something more, such as being “on the phone talking down your sister” and leaving her “favorite bra in [their] dresser” on the song’s bridge.
“Casual” can also be seen as a take on disillusionment in a situationship.
In an interview with WECB.FM, Roan explained how sometimes the person we create in our heads doesn’t end up living up to who they actually are in real life. Roan states that she “used to be really bad about dissociating and going into this dream world of what I thought people were, and they just weren’t.” Roan also admits that the song is sad, and that it’s “revealing of her delusions” in past relationships.
“Casual” is one of many songs in Roan’s longtime collaboration with producer Dan Nigro.
You may have heard the name Dan Nigro throughout these last few weeks as Nigro is one of the leading producers in the music business today. Nigro’s most well-known collaborator, Olivia Rodrigo, has worked with him on her last two albums to critical acclaim on production. Nigro is also known for working with Conan Gray, another Gen Z fan favorite. Nigro has produced many of Roan’s songs, such as “Casual,” “Red Wine Supernova,” and one of my personal favorites: “HOT TO GO.”I don’t know about you guys, but I’m super excited to see and hear more of Roan’s songs when her debut album releases. I’m also looking forward to seeing her on stage when the Guts World Tour commences early next year.