The singer Chappell Roan It has premiered in the country with the song “The Giver”. Has been interviewed by Kelleight Bannen In your program Today’s Countryof Apple Music.
Chappell Roan It is one of the great pop on the rising pop, but with its new single he has opted for the country genre. In your recent interview with Kelleight Bannenof Apple Music CountryHe speaks of “The Giver”, and explains how he turned an instrumental part of his past into an empowerment song, which also embraces his queer identity. In addition, both comment on the history of women in country music, including their admiration for artists such as Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.
You can see the full video interview below, and also read the most outstanding moments of the talk.
Chappell Roan explains in Apple Music why I wanted to write a country song
I thought it would be fun. It is extravagant and fun. I am southwest of Missouri, I grew up with Christian and country music and then discovered “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga. And I told myself: “I think I like this too.” So I have saved the country in my heart and it is so incredibly nostalgic driving in West Hollywood and having Jason Aldean, or Alan Jackson, “Chattahoochee” …. I thought: I want to feel like this on stage. I want to feel that because that’s how I write. He told me: “How do I want to walk on stage and sing?” And he also told me … I want to write that song, but with the version of Chappell.
Chappell Roan talks to Apple Music about Drag Queens who play country songs
I think I have a special relationship with my place of origin thanks to country music. And I want to honor that part of myself doing a country song in which I say: «Yes, I’m a lesbian and yes, I’m ultra pop. Yes, I am a Drag Queen. You can also play a country song »… There are many drag queens that make country music worldwide. Name a girl who has not made “Before He Cheats.” Name a girl who has not made “Man, I Feel Like A Woman.”
Chappell Roan counts in Apple Music how he grew up in Missouri and how he doesn’t “hate” for what he was taught to do
I do not hate me for not knowing everything about queer culture at that time. I don’t hate myself to come from Missouri and not know any lesbian. I don’t hate myself to be in the closet and hate myself. Of course you hate yourself. All people in the west and south, especially in these small cities, are taught not only not to speak, but to hate or pray so they do not. And I’m not angry with myself to do that. It’s the only thing I knew how to do. It’s all that they tell you to do … I can hate myself for being a lesbian at age 15 and say: «I am a woman. It is supposed to be there for my husband and I will learn to cook and … »great. I can do that. Move to Los Angeles, have a revelation, and write a country song to wrap everything; I love myself for loving country music and I love myself for having reached the other side. I love myself so much that I took a fairly painful part of my past in the west and I made a song of joy.
Chappell Roan talks to Apple Music about the insults he has received in his life
As a woman you have to have the audacity to get on stage and say: “You are going to look at me and I’m going to talk directly to the camera” … I was not born with that. All girls know what it feels like when they look at you over your shoulder, either by a boy, a shepherd or …
Kelleight Bannen: An executive of a record company?
Chappell Roan: or an executive of the record label
Chappell Roan says in Apple Music that country boys have treated her as worse and better
I am about to say something very controversial, but do you know who has treated me better and worse? The country’s guys. They have treated me the best and the worst, because that happens in the institute and it is what I grew up. Those are the boys with whom I grew up and that’s how I learned to defend myself, because they won’t look at me and tell me: “Shh, shh, shh.” This is how I learned that they will never do this again. I will never allow someone to raise my hand and say: “Stop speaking.” I learned from many of the boys with whom I grew up, who were influenced by their parents and those roles that say: “I am a man, so he speaks after me.” I started feeling inferior to many of the boys around me. And so, every time I pointed to that photographer on the red carpet in the VMAS, I heard the boys of my damn high school telling the girls to close the … mouth. I know this is not exclusive to country. That is not exclusive to southern culture. That is not exclusive to any culture. It is universal.
Chappell Roan explains in Apple Music that he has come out with country boys and implies that he mocks them in “The Giver”:
I wonder if people are going to stir against me for making a clearly lesbian song, where I make fun of the country’s boys … I have come out with a few. I love country boys. I love them. I love a man who can peel horse manure. I love that. I love a man who feels in the grass. I have dated a farm boy. I have dated someone who worked in a dairy farm. But I have also dated someone who literally does not feel in the grass, and does not touch an insect. I appreciate the way of life of the field. But also, you will find me mocking all of them … why do we continue to have songs about women who are not satisfied?
Chappell Roan tells Apple Music why he admires Dolly Parton and what country music evokes him:
That is Dolly’s beauty and what has literally created all genres. She is an artist who has embraced everyone. It doesn’t matter how we try to pigeonhole in certain genres, in plan “I am a country artist, I am a pop artist,” is as if people could be a fan of everything and attend all concerts. There are many gay and trans people in country concerts and they love country music. The girls are in my concerts and are in those of Megan Thee Stallion and Doechii. That is the beauty of music today. You have access to all this. And the country is so specific to a feeling that I miss, that I don’t feel here in Los Angeles, New York or Seattle. It is really special.
