Queer pop star Chappell Roan has been on all of our radar’s recently. From mesmerizing performances, eye-catching costumes, noteworthy speeches, and LGBTQ+ activism, Roan has been busy, to say the least—busy in all ways except for giving us new music! (See what I did there?)
I personally feel that after an artist has skyrocketed to fame like Roan has, it makes the expectations for their new music impossibly high; creating an environment that could either further make or rudely break an artist.
Roan is at an extremely vulnerable point in her career right now. Do we love her, the work she does, how she acknowledges her inspirations and never fails to leave us dazzled? Of course! No doubt her critics will be swarming at the drop of a hat to see if she’s a one-hit wonder. My advice to them: don’t hold your breath. You can bet I’m all aboard Roan’s train to success and I’m still willing to bet that her career is just getting started.
Now, Roan’s single “Good Luck, Babe,” (which has over 1.3 million streams on Spotify) was technically released after the album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, that helped launch her career. However, this single was also the track that contributed to a lot of her fame, becoming a trending TikTok sound online.
Combined, these two successes helped her get onto Saturday Night Live back on Nov. 2, 2024. As the musical guest, she played a teaser snippet of the then-unreleased track, “The Giver”—and people had thoughts. On the unofficial YouTube video, (because for some reason SNL didn’t post the performance of this song) the comment section has people saying things like, “Can’t wait to line dance to this,” and “I’ve never liked country more. This is so iconic.”
Roan, now Grammy winner of the Best New Artist award in 2025, has been an overnight success ten years in the making. And she sure didn’t waste time at the Grammy’s on Feb. 2, to start using her spotlight for good. In her speech, she brought awareness to developing musicians who need support, highlighting that there is a lot of room for the industry to progress. She also has continuously advocated for queer representation.
For weeks, USA fans have been eyeing up all of Chappell Roan’s promotional billboards across the country, getting glimpses into the unserious side of Chappell. Billboards and promotional content have led Roan to dress up as a lawyer and plumber, with slogans like, “a dry crack is a happy crack! (˘ᴗ˘).”
“The Giver” was worked on once again with Roan’s producer, Dan Nigro, and is experimental, especially given the fact it’s a country track… You heard me. Country. Now, I’m not sure what is all the hype with pop artists turning hick (like we saw with Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album), but I’m sadly guessing that country music is here to stay, so I will put up with it for Roan’s sake only. With how much I’ve obsessed over Roan over the past few years, I can’t help but continue to root for her. I firmly trust that Roan will make me temporarily put up with the genre because of her own personal flair being added to the track.
On March 13, almost a full year since her last single was dropped, Roan’s song, “The Giver” was finally released. This song is already nicknamed as a “lesbian country anthem” featuring Chappell putting on a slight twang quality to her voice. The song is definitely catchy and albeit very overtly country-inspired. From spunky fiddle-playing to the sound of banjos in the background, this song is definitely leaning into the classic country music sounds.
Listening to the full track, I’m not convinced that this will be another record-breaking song like “Good Luck, Babe” was, but that’s not to say it’s not worth listening to. It’s fun and springy tempo is definitely fitting for the season as we are all slowly warming up to hoedown this summer. So, while I don’t think it will be a chart-topping hit—it’s still a solid single.
As always with this artist, there is a dynamic and creative lyric video to go along with it. While most lyric videos are just a solid background with text on the screen, Roan goes a step further and captures all the teased characters in the video. This lyric video, like many others of hers, has a dreamlike, nostalgic quality which is partially due to the grain and style of video editing she chooses.
Oh, and in case you didn’t notice…there’s another song snuck into the beginning of the video. “The Subway” is an unreleased song by the artist, and while she has played it in live performances occasionally, not much is known about the track. There’s a certain line that has a lyric switch part way through, going from, “She’s got a way” to “She got away” is already ripping me to shreds—I don’t know if I can handle a sad song from her.
Getting back into the song, Roan gives us some good ole double-meaning lyrics for us to pretend we don’t understand. This is one of the cheeky things about her personality and artistic style that I adore. Such examples of Roan’s playful nature and sneaky lyricism come into play with lines like: “It’s just in my nature / So take it like a taker / ‘Cause, baby, I’m a giver.”
In response to fans asking if Roan is going to be making a full country album, she responded on Instagram by saying:
“My answer is.. hmm right now I’m just making songs that make me feel happy and fun and The Giver is my take on c*ntry xoxo may the classic country divas lead their genre, I am just here to twirl and do a little gay yodel for yall”
Chappell Roan
So, while the future of Chappell Roan stays undecided for now, you can bet I’ll be pulling my cowboy boots on and two-stepping to “The Giver” all night long!