Trust that Chappell Roan gets the job done when it comes to paying homage to her Missouri roots as she puts her cowgirl boots on with the release of her newest track, “The Giver.”
After months of teasing the song, the Grammy Award-winning artist has finally made her debut in the country music scene as she dropped her highly-anticipated single, “The Giver,” on March 14 (Philippine time). The fiddle-heavy song, according to Roan, was a nod to her country roots.
“I just thought it would be funny. It’s campy and it’s fun,” Roan told Kelleigh Bannen as she sat with her for Apple Music’s Today’s Country Radio. “I’m from southwest Missouri, grew up on Christian and country, and then [I] found ‘Alejandro’ by Lady Gaga. And I was like, ‘I think I like this, too.’ So I have kept country in my heart.”
The “Casual” hitmaker also shared that she also took inspiration from a number of country music with an intention to capture the joy of the genre, including Alan Jackson’s 1992 track “Chattahoochee” and Big & Rich’s 2004 hit “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).”
“I was like, ‘I want to feel that way on stage. I want to feel that.’ Because that’s how I write… And I was like, ‘I want to write that song, but Chappell’s version,’” the queer artist said.
The “Good Luck, Babe!” then wondered about what her listeners would say with the “lesbian song,” where she cheekily poked fun at country boys with the lyrics, “Ain’t no country boy quitter!” and how she “Don’t need no pickup truck, revving loud to pick [girls] up.”
But despite joking around, she still has some love for them country boys. “I’ve dated a few… I love a country boy. I love them. I love a man who can shovel horse manure. I love that. I love a man who will sit in the grass. I’ve dated a farm boy. I’ve dated someone who worked on a dairy farm.”
“But I’ve also dated someone who will literally not sit on the grass and not touch a bug. I appreciate the country way. But also, you will find me making fun of them all,” she added. “Why do we keep having songs about women not being satisfied?”
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Elsewhere in the conversation, Roan also reflected on her experience growing up as a young queer person in a conservative environment, saying that she didn’t hate herself for not knowing about the queer culture because “it’s all I knew what to do.”
“I don’t hate myself for not knowing everything about the queer culture at the time. I don’t hate myself for coming from Missouri and not knowing any lesbians. I don’t hate myself for being closeted and hating myself. [Which] of course, you do,” said Roan.
“Every person in the Midwest and south, especially these tiny towns, are taught to not only keep it down but hate it away or pray it away. And I’m not mad at myself for doing that. It’s all I knew what to do. That’s all you’re told to do,” she continued.
Roan also admitted that she touched on these struggles and made fun of them through “The Giver.” “I love myself so much that I took a leap into a pretty painful part of my past in the Midwest and made a song of joy,” she shared.
Roan then described how special country music is and “The Giver” was a manifestation of how she appreciated it.
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“I think I have a special relationship to where I’m from because of country music. And so to kind of honor that part of myself by making a country song where it’s like, ‘You know what? Yes, I am gay and yes, I am ultra pop. Yes, I am a drag queen. You can also perform a country song,’” the “HOT TO GO!” singer said.
“And there’s a lot of drag queens who do country music all over the world. Name a girl who hasn’t done ‘Before He Cheats.’ Name a girl that hasn’t done ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman,’” she added.
But does this mean we’d have our hands on a country record?
“I really did it just for fun,” Roan clarified. “I’m not switching genres or anything… But it’s not no forever.”
At least, we got a clear answer to that question. But alas, we’re definitely excited to see what’s next for our Super Graphic Ultra Country Girl!
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