It’s definitely… different.
Over the weekend, pop sensation Chappell Roan was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and if her name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve at least heard part of her song “HOT TO GO!” or “Pink Pony Club.”
She’s having a huge moment right now, and her career is exploding, and she made a comment a few months back saying she was planning to put out a country song soon. During an interview with Rolling Stone not long ago, Chappell revealed that she’s working a new album, the follow-up to her massively successful 2023 debut The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess:
“We have a country song. We have a dancy song. We have one that’s really Eighties, and we have one that’s acoustic, and we have one that’s really organic, live-band, Seventies vibe. It’s super weird.”
I actually do like some of her music a lot (“Pink Pony Club” lives rent free in my head, I can’t lie), but obviously, I think the pop stars going “country” schtick is usually nothing to write home about these days and hardly ever actually works. It’s no secret that country music is hot right now, and it feels like everyone and their mother is trying to put out a country project right now. But it rarely ever feels sincere… it feels like a costume, like you’re playing dress-up. For some reason, country music is the only genre where you can do that and still be taken seriously. Pop stars love to thrown on some boots and a hat, but can you imagine a big star like Luke Combs dying his hair black, slapping on some guy-liner, and recording an early 2000s-era, emo punk rock song? He’d be laughed off the stage.
Well, Chappell debuted the new “country” song during her SNL appearance, and I have to say, it’s pretty much exactly what I expected in terms of the sound… it’s pop, but there some fiddle mixed in which definitely gives it a lot more twang than all of her other music. I was never under the impression that it would sound like it was straight out of a Loretta Lynn album, and honestly, I can hear a lot of Shania Twain influence here. I’d be willing to bet she probably pulled a lot of inspiration from the pop country queen on this song.
Titled “The Giver,” the song has been dubbed 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.”
— v (@ViralContentz) November 3, 2024
Basically, the song is about sex. I don’t have a problem with the suggestive nature of the song, it’s your prerogative to listen to it or not if you don’t like it, and Chappell’s fans had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the new country-inspired tune. That’s not surprising though… it’s still just a pop song with a little bit of fiddle, and let’s face it, her fans are in full ride or die mode right now:
What in the Dolly Parton! 🤩!
— Srah (@SrahHernandez) November 3, 2024
making a song in a genre dominated by straight men and telling them you as a woman know how to please another woman more than they do… oh Chappell your mind is so powerful https://t.co/pCCmMlwM2B
— Bobby (@Kirbobby_) November 3, 2024
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
LESBIAN COWGIRL REPRESENTATION pic.twitter.com/EFDfY8AQc6
— ً (@americanreqiuem) November 3, 2024
And she ate with this… oh Chappell the icon that you are
— ⸉ᴳAbhay⸆⸉ (@SGxTS_abhay) November 3, 2024
OH CHAPPELL THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE I AM GAGGED!!! MAKING A LESBIAN COUNTRY SONG ABOUT HOW MUCH BETGER LESBIAN SEX IS pic.twitter.com/OQDpXCmhMd
— jess (@jessinomenon) November 3, 2024
I GET THE JOB.. DONE pic.twitter.com/GEis1P608j
— ً (@americanreqiuem) November 3, 2024
don’t tell my friends that I like a country song
— hayden 📖 kotlc stellarlune (@hir3land) November 3, 2024
YASS COUNTRY CHAPPELL ERA INCOMINGGGGG
— Swiftieliviecarpenterrrrr (@Swiftieslivies) November 3, 2024
Why can I picture this song in a Drag Race Rusical?
— Mark (@106th) November 3, 2024
Chappell Roan’s song is an anthem for:
– Self-love and self-appreciation
– Female autonomy and decision-making
– Breaking free from societal expectations— amelia (@itz__amelia) November 3, 2024
Chappell Roan’s lyric underscores that only women truly understand how to treat each other right, challenging traditional gender norms.
— Usama’s PTI (@usamatahir4624) November 3, 2024
Of course, others didn’t love it quite so much…
It’s actually insane how bad this is
— ppigg (@s4m31p4n) November 3, 2024
The panderinggggg
— RubyRedKekeee 🦄 (@WillBarb44) November 3, 2024
The lyrics are bad 🙂🙂
— Nikhil kommu (@Nikhil48693484) November 3, 2024
roots country lovers listening to this: pic.twitter.com/g4RehURkdf
— dusty (@thaflyinhawaiin) November 3, 2024
This is the just the equivalent of 1970s Rock acts making cringe Disco songs. Country is the only music genre selling in crossover numbers these days and pop acts like Beyoncé and whoever this is are just jumping on the Country music bandwagon. And no, I’m not a Country fan, fyi.
— Suntanned Greek Immigrant (@GreekNME) November 3, 2024
Sounds like shit
— Stacy (@citygirlstacy) November 3, 2024
We’ll see what it sounds like once the studio cut is released, but with her debuting “The Giver” on SNL, it seems like it will be a big part of the album rollout and could even be a big radio single too.
Here’s the full audio from the SNL performance: