Chappell Roan’s Silliness Is Sincere On ‘The Giver’

Chappell Roan doesn’t do things halfway. She spent four hours getting her body painted so she could dress as the Statue of Liberty at last year’s Governors Ball. She brought out a massive pony to perform her hit “Pink Pony Club” on the Grammys stage. She even showed up in full clown makeup for her acoustic NPR Tiny Desk set. So when Roan decided to release a country song, she wasn’t going to just throw a banjo in the mix and call it a day. “The Giver” is the genuine article — a bonafide honky-tonk stomper laden with country references. It’s also a pivot that goes deeper than just another singer doing a genre bit.

“The Giver” sounds like a lesbian Shania Twain single: the crisply recorded fiddle, the throttle of guitar and drums, the sexual mischief. That sound got Twain in trouble in the ‘90s, when critics complained she was leaning too far into pop, but in 2025’s landscape, it’s legibly country. While it’s inoffensive enough to appeal to pop fans (just like Twain’s music), listeners don’t have to squint to hear the touchpoints. In fact, Roan’s leaning into them to her advantage, queering the rote masculine country references and taking to task the men who leave their girlfriends with unfinished business. “Girl, I don’t need no lifted truck / Revvin’ loud to pick you up / ‘Cause how I look is how I touch,” she sings, her voice warbling like a young Natalie Maines.

“The Giver” just as easily could’ve gone full parody. It sure reads like one: a lesbian come-on country song playing off dom-sub roles. Roan toed the line in the winking rollout of the track, posting billboards of her as a dentist (“Dental dams aren’t just for dentists”), a plumber (“Showing crack is back”), and an HVAC repair person (“Your wife’s hot”). But this is the work of someone who cares about country. Roan being raised in small-town Missouri is key to her mythology, yet she’s never centered it as much as she does on “The Giver.” In a statement, she framed the song as a tribute to the sound of her childhood: “I grew up listening to it every morning and afternoon on my school bus and had it swirling around me at bonfires, grocery stores and karaoke bars.” As the songwriter’s cliché goes, “The Giver” isn’t just for the queer kids growing up in less-accepting parts of the country, it’s by one of them — a singer who’s figured out how to take something good from their upbringing and make it their own.

After Roan first performed “The Giver” on Saturday Night Live last November, fans wondered if she might have a whole country album up her sleeves; she’s since assured them this is a one-off exploration. But “The Giver” isn’t all that different from Roan’s past work. She’s been bridging sincerity and silliness since “Pink Pony Club,” her campy ode to gay havens. There are genuine feelings underneath even her most fun songs: the first-date jitters of “Red Wine Supernova,” the female empowerment of “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” and “Femininomenon.” It’s the same formula that makes a good country song.

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