On November 2, 2024, with John Mulaney as the Saturday Night Live host, Chappell Roan performed her new country single, The Giver, for the first time, months before the studio recording would be released. And while Roan went country, she went country in the most Chappell Roan way possible. The decor on stage was campy, she wore giant hair, drag-inspired makeup, and a pink and blue two-piece gingham outfit, paired with cowboy boots.
Roan released the studio-recorded single on March 13, complete with an official music video and a marketing campaign with giant posters of her face in Los Angeles.
The Giver is a bit of a departure from Roan’s ultra-pop previous releases, including music off of her first studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. There are banjos and country-tuned instruments in the background of the song. But, just like all of her other music, The Giver is femme-positive and inspired by her own queer identity.
While looking at the lyrics, not only does she refer to traditionally male-dominated careers and activities, like taxidermy and yard work, she also shares with the world some of her sexual preferences. For example, she boasts not needing a, “map,” while being with a woman, most likely referring to the cultural phenomenon that men don’t fully satisfy women because they can’t find the clitoris.
Yet, there are seemingly double meanings in some of her lyrics and the overall themes of the song. Some of the lyrics clearly have sexual undertones. But some have interpreted the song as referring to encouraging women to, “take,” more and be the, “giver.” Stereotypically, women are shy, less confident in taking for themselves things like promotions and raises, for fear of being criticized. And over the course of history, women have not been the, “giver,” or the provider. Conversely, men are stereotypically takers, taking for themselves what they want and need. Roan, with The Giver, not only inspires female sexual satisfaction, she also inspires female empowerment. Roan juxtaposes the traditionally male-dominated country music genre with her ideas of sexual liberation and femme-positivity.
That encouragement of feminist themes is made even clearer through her music video; with it’s 90s television sheen and graphics, the video pictures Roan in five different outfits. She’s a dentist, a lawyer, a plumber, a construction worker, and a detective. The outfits are noticeably tuned down from her typical sparkles, bright colors, and drag-inspired costumes. But she chose these costumes because they are typically male-dominated fields.
In her foray into country music, Roan was inspired by the music she listened to during childhood: lots of Christian and country music before discovering Lady Gaga.
Just like everything else she does, and mimicking the main ideas of The Giver, Roan did what she wanted and tried out country.
Roan’s fans’ reactions fall into a few categories: Those who rarely listen to country music but have been blasting The Giver on repeat; those who hate country and won’t listen to The Giver; those with negative criticism; those with nothing but praise; and those upset that the spoken bridge Roan performed during The Giver’s world debut on SNL didn’t make it into the studio recording.
When Roan performed on SNL, she included a few lines of speaking during the bridge of the song. She said, “All you country boys saying you know how to treat a woman right— well, only a woman knows how to treat a woman right,” and then launched back into the lyrics, “she gets the job done.”
Many fans are upset that those lines didn’t make it into the studio recording
Hopefully when Roan performs the song live again, she’ll include that bridge.
While Roan is clear it will be some time before her next album, she made clear what she’s excited about in that album.
“We have a country song. We have a dancy song,” Roan told Rolling Stones in an interview last year. “We have one that’s really ’80s, and we have one that’s acoustic, and we have one that’s really organic, live-band, ’70s vibe. It’s super weird.”
But regardless of the vibes of Chappell Roan’s sophomore album, she’ll always have a place in her heart for her Midwestern country roots.
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