Chappell Roan's "The Subway": Masterful Themes of Heartbreak in Media

Written by Amber Bintliff

The cover of Chappell Roan's "The Subway." Offstage Exposure does not own this image. Credit to the original owner.

After the year-long wait since its Gov Ball live debut, Chappell Roan has finally released her highly-anticipated new single “The Subway.”

“The Subway” is the haunting reality of being plagued with nostalgia and grief for a past

relationship. The dreamy ballad perfectly captures the weight of carrying memories and feeling

the person’s absence in everything you do, even something as mundane as taking the subway

through New York City.

Chappell’s emotional lyricism and vocal delivery make this song an anthem for those who yearn. The track perfectly showcases the unmatched rawness and vulnerability of wanting to move on but being unable to. The back and forth between “she’s got a way” and “she got away” in the outro tackles the depth of the breakup in a clever way. Chappell spirals with the fact that her ex-lover is never coming back despite how tight she holds onto their memories. These lines specifically convey the idea of reminiscing on the person one second, then being crushed by the reality that they’re gone the next.

The breakout star’s artistry also shines through visually on “The Subway” with its captivating

and immersive New York-centric music video. With her iconic red hair shown to be rivaling the

length of Rapunzel’s, she embodies the idea of “hair holds memories.” The long hair represents her inability to escape these thoughts of her ex, so much that it feels equivalent to being dragged along the street by a Taxi cab and floating around in the fountain at Washington

Square Park. However, one of the most beautifully tragic shots in the video is where Chappell’s

found stuck in a wind tunnel after revealing a dramatically shorter haircut. The scene feels

representative of the fact that even as she starts to let go, she will always be reminded of what

could have been.

Chappell recently announced that she’ll be embarking on a few pop-up shows in New York City,

Kansas City, and Pasadena this September and October before returning to the studio to finish

her sophomore record. In an effort to limit bots and scalpers, links to purchase tickets will be

sent to randomly selected fans who previously signed up for access between Tuesday, August

5th and Thursday, August 7th. Chappell also shared that $1 per ticket will be donated to

organizations supporting trans youth in each of the three cities.