She’s Gone Cunt-ry: Chappell Roan is “The Giver”
Almost 5 months after premiering the track on Saturday Night Live, Chappell Roan has finally released “The Giver,” a tongue-in-cheek celebration of sapphic…ahem, relations.
“The Giver” marks the multifaceted pop star's first headfirst dive into country music, evoking the nostalgic vibe of the Chicks, Shania Twain, and other divas of the late 90s era of the genre. While 2024 was undoubtedly the Year of Chappell, “The Giver” assures fans she’s not going anywhere just yet, and that she has plenty more tricks up her sleeve.
Chappell Roan for “The Giver” via Instagram
Produced by Dan Nigro, the architect behind Chappell’s Grammy-nominated and world-dominating debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, “The Giver” has the hallmarks of a certified country banger (fiddle and all) while lyrically subverting the usual expectations that come with it. After all, this is not your typical country music fare.
“Cause you ain’t gotta tell me/it’s just in my nature/So take it like a taker/Cause baby I’m a giver” - tops rejoice! Your anthem has arrived!
While the song itself is gay country-pop perfection, the rollout to its release has been a bit long and tedious. As previously mentioned, Chappell first introduced the song to the world when she performed it live on SNL in early November. She only started teasing its release on February 18th with clever adverts popping up in US cities, and even still did not announce the actual release date until March 4th.
But perhaps some audiences’ frustration with this process speaks more to the collective hunger for more Chappell Roan and less to the process itself. We want new Chappell bops and we want them now! The pop star has already established her unconventional release style - she premiered the yet-to-be-released single “The Subway” at Governors Ball last spring and fans are still begging for the track to officially drop daily. One thing is for sure, Chappell Roan doesn’t play by traditional pop industry rules, opting instead to do things her way. And aren’t we, the fans, all the better fed for it?
Chappell Roan wins Best New Artist at the 2025 Grammy Awards
“The Giver” is a barn-burner begging to be line-danced to, with a stomping hook designed to get the crowd chanting along (she’s single-handedly making “na na na na” cool again). In the 2020s era of pop music, artists have to be able to genre-bend and experiment to keep audiences engaged - see: artists like Beyonce and Post Malone pivoting to the country genre in the last year to great acclaim - and “The Giver” proves Chappell isn’t afraid to do either.
Chappell Roan’s summer is stacked with European festival performances, including headlining the iconic Reading and Leeds in August. While fans hold out hope for another album before 2025 is over, we’re probably better off just sitting back and enjoying the continued Rise of the Midwest Princess. As she’s proven time and time again, good things are worth waiting for - and baby, she’ll deliver.
