Chappell Roan has explained why it took her so long to share ‘The Subway’, saying that the track felt “just too painful”.
The former NME Cover star officially shared the single on August 1 – over a year after first being debuted at Governor’s Ball in New York and making it a common feature at her live shows.
The official single drop came after she hinted towards it at Primavera Sound this year, when she played it again and told fans they’d be getting an official release soon.
In the lovelorn ballad, she sings of running into an ex-partner on the subway and being reminded of the heartbreaking end to their relationship. Roan yearns to move on, wishing she’ll soon see her ex as “just another girl on the subway“.
Now, the singer has shared why it took her so long to share the track. “I just wasn’t ready to put it out yet, it was just too painful. I was just too angry and scared – just about my life – to put it out,” she told Vogue.
“I was having a hard time getting over this one person, and I just could not get over them. When I was writing, I was constantly trying to be like, ‘We’re done, we’re done, we’re done, we’re done. The feelings are still there, even though we’re done’.”
She then went on to discuss the music video that accompanied the track and the lyrics, saying: “I didn’t want it to be super serious. It is a serious song, but at the same time it’s not, because I say, ‘Fuck this city, I’m moving to Saskatchewan.’ It’s not that serious.”
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The song follows her 2023’s hit debut album ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’, and the subsequent standalone singles ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, and the “full ass country song” ‘The Giver’.
Also in that interview with Vogue, Roan spoke about her thoughts towards a sophomore album and revealed that it “doesn’t exist yet”, and may not be ready for another “five years”.
“I’m not that type of writer that can pump it out,” she said. “I don’t think I make good music whenever I force myself to do anything… Even if I was in the studio 12 hours a day, every single day, that does not mean that you would get an album any faster.”
‘The Rise And Fall…’ was nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, while ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ was up for Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. She would go home to take the trophy in the Best New Artist category.
This summer the singer announced a series of “pop-up” US shows for this autumn that will take place “before going away to write [her] next album”.
The former NME Cover star is due to headline Reading & Leeds 2025 this month. These shows will be held on August 22 and 23 respectively, and see her top this year’s bill alongside Travis Scott, Bring Me The Horizon and Hozier.
After Reading & Leeds, she’ll play two shows for the Summer Sessions concert series at the Royal Highlands Showgrounds in Edinburgh, and appear at Electric Picnic in Ireland. Visit here for tickets.
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