
Chappell Roan is giving one of Lady Gaga’s most underrated albums its flowers.
The Grammy winner recently spoke with Zane Lowe on Apple Music Radio (12 August), where she discussed the meaning behind her chart-topper ‘The Subway’, tour plans and how she’s approaching her new era – aka CR2.
“I actually wrote it about LA,” Roan said of ‘The Subway’, which recently became her second number-one in the UK and highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number three.
“But, ‘The Subway’ is just so much more romantic. It was actually about me hiding in Los Angeles from someone who I was deeply in love with. But we weren’t on bad terms, it was just kind of trying to avoid the coffee shops that we went to, and parties.
“And so that’s where it came from, was, ‘Oh my god, I don’t know how to exist in this city.’ I felt pretty lonely there for many years.”
‘The Subway’ is the third release from Roan’s forthcoming second album after her breakout synthpop anthem ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ and the country-tinged track ‘The Giver’, both of which peaked in the top five of the U.S. and UK charts.
Roan discussed how important it is for her to explore new genres, saying “that’s one of the most admirable things an artist can do,” and credited Lady Gaga’s fifth studio album Joanne with giving her the inspiration to release ‘The Giver’.
“When Gaga released Joanne and was like, ‘I actually have this entire other side of me outside pop…’ That just builds the character of your artistry,” she explained. “And so, it is scary to release a country song, but this felt not scary to me.”
As for the status of her sophomore album – which Roan recently told British Vogue “doesn’t exist yet” – the star expressed her fear over releasing a body of work that won’t be received as well as her debut, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
“This next era, I don’t really know what it is, but ‘The Subway’ is a very safe segue to it,” she revealed. “I think that ‘The Giver’, ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ and ‘The Subway’ are all kind of so different, so that’s why I’m like, ‘I have no idea what the next era is.’
“That’s the scary part of putting out new music and then people not liking it, because it’s not like the music you made before, and so it makes you scared to release stuff. Because you’re like, ‘Well, people aren’t ever going to like it as much as the first one.’ That’s the risk you take every single time.”
Although CR2 won’t be released any time soon, Roan confirmed that she’s “far from done touring”: “We got some stuff [in] February and March next year, so we’re not done yet.
“I think once this is done and the U.S. shows are done, it’ll definitely feel like a big breath of weight off my shoulders, so I can chill for a sec and think about writing. But we’re almost done with the victory lap. Next April, I’ll be done with the victory lap.”
Following festival dates across Europe – including Reading and Leeds – Roan will embark on a series of pop-up concerts in the U.S, titled Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things. Visit her website for more information.