The Giver
Chappell Roan gets the job done -- and tells the rest of the world what we already know about queer country, writes editor Rachel Cholst
You knew this was coming. I was bracing for it myself – after the debut of the song on SNL last year, I eagerly anticipated a studio version of "The Giver."
“I really just did it for fun,” Roan said of the new single on Kelleigh Bannon's Apple Music show. (PS – for an extremely charming podcast about how the sausage gets made on Music Row, check out Kelleigh Bannon's previous podcast This Nashville Life.)
“I’m not switching genres or anything. I wanted to write a country song because I just thought it would be funny. It’s campy and fun.”
That was clearly the motivating force behind the song's recording, with tongue-in-cheek exclamations by the backup singers, a winsome fiddle line, and gang vocals by a group of deadpan guys a la Shaniah Twain.
Because there's so little (broad) representation of queer life in country music, it's hard not to want one artist to be all things to all people – and I think that may be why the studio version of "The Giver" seems to have met with a collective shrug compared to its initial debut. But Roan is using its rollout as an opportunity to speak about the things the music industry would like to ignore – as she's so good at. And here, she highlights the role of queer artists and fans in country.
“Even if it’s not the artist that’s gay singing — girl, those backup singers, those girls on tour, the people playing banjo — there are gay people making the music.” Roan noted that “There are a lot of gay country fans, a lot of drag queen country fans.”
And, of course, the song is about claiming her own background and coming out loudly and proudly. (As always, David Cantwell of No Fences Review provides prescient context.)
“It just shows that country can exist in a queer space and a queer space can exist in a country space.”
In some ways, Roan's ability to comment on the ecosystem in a way Nashville artists can't makes the rollout of "The Giver" much more powerful than the song itself. Country music clearly resonates among queer people – and one of our biggest stars has shown that Southern and queer pride are not as irreconcilable as a lot of people think. I would hope that, at some point, these discussions turn to why we are so under-represented – and to the artists who have been carrying the torch, under-appreciated, for years.
Interestingly, though, the recording itself is bland enough that I've heard all kinds of takes on the song – from country and Chappell fans alike.
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