We first got a preview of Chappell Roan’s new single, “The Subway,” last fall during the singer’s set at Austin City Limits. She’s been auditioning the track, which she first debuted at New York’s Governors Ball festival in 2024, to rave reviews from fans and critics alike for over a year now. But an official release almost didn’t happen.
It’s been a long and winding road to Roan’s as-yet-untitled sophomore effort, which still has no release date. The album’s de facto lead single, “Good Luck, Babe!,” was released in April of 2024, and its follow-up, the country-centric “The Giver,” failed to match the success of that breakout hit. “The Subway,” which was produced Roan’s perennial collaborator Dan Nigro, aims to put her back on the proverbial track.
Described by Roan as a “cousin” to “Casual,” a cheekily explicit sleeper hit from her 2023 debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, “The Subway” is a midtempo dream-pop ballad—replete with crisp, teary-eyed guitars—that finds her pining for the one that got away. “I’m still counting down all of the days/’Till you’re just another girl on the subway,” she laments achingly.
The song itself was almost the hit that got away. Roan was reportedly hesitant to record a studio version of “The Subway” for fear that she wouldn’t be able to replicate her live vocal performance. But those concerns are largely assuaged, especially during the track’s sublime outro: “She’s got, she’s got a way/She got, she got away,” Roan declares, the lilting crack in her voice recalling that of Cocteau Twins’s Elizabeth Fraser.
Nestled within the lyrics to “The Subway” are tributes to both sense memory and the city of New York, and the music video sees Roan partaking in such NYC pastimes as taking a dip in Washington Square Fountain and falling asleep on the subway. The clip, directed by Amber Grace Johnson, mixes the realism of living (and loving) in the Big Apple with surreal bits like a red tumbleweave rolling down a crowded sidewalk and Roan climbing a giant green wig. Cameos abound, including Elisabeth Easton Rosenthal, known as “the green lady of Brooklyn,” and New York’s iconic subway rats.
Watch the video for “The Subway” below:
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
