Is she into… country music?
On “Saturday Night Live,” Chappell Roan transitioned from the “Pink Pony Club” to the country club, taking fans by surprise by adopting a country look and sound for her second performance. She debuted a fresh track, “The Giver,” which blends Country & Western with LGBTQ+ themes.
Roan crooned, “I get the job done,” in the new song’s chorus, which echoes “Femininomenon’s” theme of the notion that satisfying a woman might be a task best suited for another woman.
Roan voiced a spoken word aside in the song, “All you country boys saying you know how to threat a woman right — Well, only a woman knows how to treat a woman right. She gets the job done.”
VIP+
In her second act towards the end of the show, Roan retained the large red wig with white stripes that defined her initial look when she performed her iconic song “Pink Pony Club” earlier. Everything else was transformed, however, including her background vocalists and all-female band donning classic denim and Western-style shirts. Roan made a comeback in a gingham-style halter top, short shorts, and boots that could have been straight out of “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
What’s trending on Variety
But the “dukes” weren’t the focus: Roan was distinctly celebrating the duchesses of Hazzard, with slightly risque lyrics about partners giving and receiving and the assurance that “it’s just in my nature to take it like a taker” and “you don’t need to hurry.”
As Roan’s suddenly fiddle-powered band drove the country banger home, cartoon bears and other animated forest animals watched on.
Chappell Roan performing her brand new single ‘She Gets The Job Done’ on SNL! ✨ pic.twitter.com/WjCxpSlXxF
— best of chappell roan (@bestofchappell) November 3, 2024
Though the song title was not disclosed until its “SNL” debut, and fans were speculating from its chorus that it was called “She Gets the Job Done,” NBC posted a snippet of the performance on social media afterwards, revealing that it is titled “The Giver.”
Roan recently shared a photo of herself with her debut album’s LP cover, hinting that it was about to be replaced by a new one. However, no hints about its recording or release schedule were given. (“Album kinda popped off imo but it is time to welcome a hot new bombshell into the villa,” she wrote, riffing on a catchphrase from the TV reality series “Love Island.”) But her producer/co-writer, Dan Nigro, gave some hints about the sophomore album’s progress in a recent New York Times interview, revealing they’d cut five tracks so far — including one that was a “fun, up-tempo country song” that features “a fiddle… a new version of Chappell.”
Earlier on “SNL,” Roan performed “Pink Pony Club” and went off-mic for the final pre-chorus so that the studio audience could sing on her behalf. Maybe the show’s audio technicians turned up the ambient sound more than usual, but it seemed like the entire audience was full of hardcore Roan fans, judging by the volume of the sing-along coming through TV speakers.
At the end of “Pink Pony Club,” Roan shouted, “Live from New York!,” repeating the show’s traditional cold-open catchphrase — a move no musical guest has pulled before. It felt like an impromptu proclamation of victory over the rousing performance or perhaps even scene-stealing audacity.
Roan’s appearance on the show was a dream come true after 13 years. Earlier in the week, she shared a screenshot of a Facebook post she made in April 2011, when she was 13 and still known by her pre-stage name, Kayleigh Amstutz. It read: “I am determined to be on SNL.”
Roan’s country venture is likely a one-time experiment rather than a serious shift in direction, as Nigro suggested in his New York Times interview that only one of the songs they’re working on for the second album has a country theme. (She’s also been premiering another new song, “Subway,” that doesn’t have a country feel at concerts.) Nonetheless, she’s one of several major pop artists who’ve recently explored the genre, with Beyonce and Post Malone both releasing country-themed albums this year and Lana Del Rey working on one for a while.
Roan’s new track is not the first lesbian country song. The Highwomen’s “If She Ever Leaves Me” is another example, and such parallels in this emerging subgenre could be a discussion point when Brandi Carlile moderates a conversation with Roan and Nigro in Los Angeles this week.
And now, the million-dollar question: Will Roan be invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry?
