The Midwest princess goes country.
Last week, pop sensation Chappell Roan announced that she plans to release a new song called “The Giver” tomorrow, which she herself called a “country” song, saying she grew up listening to country and it was all around her growing up in small town Missouri.
She explained that it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s trying to make a country album, though she has a “special place” in her heart for the genre and definitely left the door open to make more country in the future:
“‘The Giver.’ OUT 8pm et 3.13. Daniel Nigro and I wrote this together and it was so fun! We’ve never done a country song and I have such a special place in my heart for country music. I grew up listening to it every morning and afternoon on my school bus and had it swirling around me at bon fires, grocery stores and karaoke bars.
Many people have asked if this means I’m making a country album? 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 cuntry xoxo may the classic country divas lead their genre, I am just here to twirl and do a little gay yodel for y’all.”
If you follow music even from afar, you’ve probably heard of her 2023 breakout album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which featured hits like “Good Luck, Babe!” and was nominated for several Grammy’s this year.
She ended up taking home the coveted Best New Artist trophy at the show in February.
And in a new interview with Amazon Music’s Country Heat Weekly podcast, Chappell explained that she “had” to acknowledge country music, and she isn’t trying to “bait” country music fans into listening to her music by doing this. It was on her heart, being a small town girl from Missouri, and a big part of her life growing up.
She also joked that she thought “a lesbian country song is really funny,” so that’s what she wrote:
“Well, and I can’t call myself the Midwest princess and not acknowledge country music straight up. That is what is around me in the grocery stores. That’s what is playing on the bus… I know that my heart really wanted to write a country song, and I’m trying to really articulate that it’s not me trying to cross genres and be like, ‘Hey, you know, look at me.’
I’m not trying to convince a country crowd that they should listen to my music by baiting them with a country song. That’s not what I feel like I’m doing. I just think a lesbian country song is really funny, so I wrote that.”
Chappell talked about loving the fiddle and banjo, and how those types of instruments can capture a completely different feeling than any pop song she could come up with:
“I wrote a country song not to invade country music, but to really capture what I think, the essence of country music is, for me, which is nostalgia, and fun in the summertime, and the fiddle, and the banjo feeling like country queen. It makes me feel a certain type of freedom that pop music doesn’t let me feel.
I think it’s interesting and I had to do it. I had to do it for myself to know what is it actually like to write a country song and perform it next to ‘Casual’ or next to ‘My Kink is Karma’ or next to ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’ I just had to do myself justice.”
It sounds like her love for country music comes from a very authentic place, and I also don’t think, like she said herself, that she’s trying to transition into the genre full-time or anything of that nature. Compared to someone like Lana Del Rey, who essentially said “country music was popular right now,” this is a much more palatable approach for a pop star “going country.”
Chappell previously debuted “The Giver” on SNL, and it definitely sounds very Shania Twain-influenced in terms of the pop/country blend. Fans have already dubbed it a “lesbian country anthem” with Chappell delivering this line in the bridge about how “only a woman” knows how to treat a woman right:
“All you country boys saying you know how to treat a woman right, well only a woman knows how to treat a woman right.”
I’m a big fan of her music (“Pink Pony Club” is a jam,), and while I don’t foresee her sticking around country, and doing the whole Beyonce thing, I’m open to hear what she comes up with and, at the very least, think it will be a lot more entertaining and interesting than a lot of the other pop stars who have tried to go country lately…
Watch her full performance of “The Giver” on SNL:
Chappell Roan’s full hq performance of ‘The Giver’, her new cuntry single, live on SNL! 🤍 pic.twitter.com/NdKLmqXRpw
— best of chappell roan (@bestofchappell) November 3, 2024
