Chappell Roan on ‘very clearly lesbian love song’ ‘The Giver’ and drag’s connection to country
"Name a girl who hasn't done 'Before He Cheats!' Name a girl who hasn't done 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman!'"
Chappell Roan has offered insights into her new single ‘The Giver’, explaining that, although it’s a “very clearly lesbian love song”, it does detail her real-life past relationships with guys.
Despite debuting the song on Saturday Night Live in November 2024, the rising star officially released the song today (Friday 14 March 2025).
Speaking in a new interview with Kelleigh Bannen on Apple Music Country, the 27-year-old explained: “I wonder if people are going to revolt against me making a very clearly lesbian song, where I poke fun at country boys… I’ve dated a few, I’ve dated a few.”
“I love a country boy,” she continued. “I love them. I love a man who can shovel horse manure. I love that. I love a man who will sit in 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 grass, and not touch a bug. I appreciate the country way. But also, you will find me making fun of them all… Why do we keep having songs about women not being satisfied?”
Chappell on why she wanted to write a country song
I just thought it would be funny. It’s campy and it’s fun. I’m from southwest Missouri, grew up on Christian and country and then found “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga. And I was like, “I think I like this too.” So I have kept country in my heart and it’s so incredibly nostalgic to drive in West Hollywood and have Jason Aldean, or Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee.” And I love how… “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” I was like, “How can I…?” I want to feel that way on stage. I want to feel that because that’s how I write. I’m like, “How do I want to walk around on stage and sing?” And I was like, “I want to write that song, but, like, Chappell’s version.”
Chappell Roan on drag queens performing country
I think I have a special relationship to where I’m from because of country music. And so to kind of honour 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.”… 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.”
Chappell on growing up in Missouri
It’s like 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. Of course, you do. 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… I can hate myself for being gay at 15 and be like, “I’m a woman. I’m supposed to just be there for my husband and I’m going to learn how to cook and…” Awesome. I can do that. Move to LA, have a revelation, and write a country song to wrap it all up and be like, I love myself for loving country music and I love myself that I came around the other side. 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.
Chappell on being talked down to
As a woman you have to have the absolute audacity to feel like… you have to have the audacity to walk on stage and be like, “You’re going to look at me and I’m going to talk directly to the camera.”… And I was not just born with that. Every girl knows what it’s freaking like to be talked down to by a boy or a pastor or […] a record label executive.
Chappell on Dolly Parton
I mean that’s the beauty of Dolly and what she has created across literally all genres. She is an artist that has embraced all of everyone. And no matter how we try to put music in certain genres and, “I’m a country artist, I’m a pop artist,” it’s like people can be fans of all of it and can go to all the concerts. There are a lot of gay people and trans people at country concerts and they love country music. The girls are at my concerts and they’re at Megan Thee Stallion and Doechii. That is the beauty of music nowadays. You have access to all of this. And country is something that… It is so specific to a feeling that I miss that I don’t feel here in LA or New York or Seattle. It’s really, really special.