Chappell Roan Finally Drops ‘The Subway,’ and We’re Crying in Public Transit Again
After teasing it all over New York City with a trail of cryptic, hairy posters and even a moving truck bound for Saskatchewan, Chappell Roan has finally released her highly anticipated sapphic ballad, The Subway. And yes, it was worth the wait.
We first heard The Subway during Roan’s electrifying 2024 set at Governor’s Ball, where she performed it dressed as a green-painted Lady Liberty. Since then, it’s lived in our heads as a haunting earworm of heartbreak and longing. Now, over a year later, the studio version is officially out via Amusement/Island Records, and it hasn’t lost an ounce of its emotional punch.
This marks Chappell Roan’s second single of 2025, following March’s The Giver, and solidifies her status as queer pop’s reigning heartbreak poet. Produced and co-written by longtime collaborator Daniel Nigro, The Subway captures the quiet devastation of missed romantic connections and the heartbreak that lingers in the small, daily details—especially when those details are the MTA and the ghost of a girl you loved and lost.
The song is full of lyrics that punch right to the chest, like “’Til I don’t look for you on the staircase / Or wish you thought that we were still soulmates,”and others that feel absurdly specific in a way only Chappell can pull off. Case in point: “I made a promise / if in four months this feeling ain’t gone / well, f*ck this city / I’m moving to Saskatchewan.” That single lyric has already become a rallying cry for queer fans who’ve found themselves grieving a breakup on public transit or making dramatic escape plans just to outrun a memory.
When announcing the release on Instagram yesterday (July 31), Roan shared the full story behind the song’s long road to release:
“I’m very proud of this song & what a journey she has been on. I first played it at gov ball when I was painted green as lady liberty and in the past have played new songs live to feel them out. Obviously not knowing this really chaotic year would follow the performance , it didn’t really leave me the time to build the world the song deserved. But finally we are here. I def ripped my hair out trying to figure out the puzzle of how this song should feel musically and visually and emotionally, luckily there are some to spare. Thank you for sticking it out for a whole year. It was worth it to make sure everything was absolutely right (˘ᴗ˘) xoxo.”
And build a world she did. Alongside the single, Roan dropped a visually rich, high-camp music video directed by Amber Grace Johnson, shot entirely on 35mm film in the heart of Manhattan. In it, we follow Roan as she quite literally sheds her iconic red hair and spirals through New York, haunted by ghosts of her ex and visions of what could’ve been. She’s dragged through the subway (in heels, obviously), chased by trash, rats, and emotion, and we feel every second of it.
It’s heartbreak, queer longing, and theatrical absurdity wrapped in glitter and grief. In her own words, “The cliché of ‘the girl that got away’ barely scratches the surface for me with this song. I wrote it as I was stumbling around New York with a broken heart and I kept envisioning us on every street, fire escape, coffee shop, park and yes… the subway.”
This isn’t just a sad gay anthem, it’s a love letter to New York, to sapphic heartbreak, and to the version of ourselves who still lingers in places we used to be in love.
For fans craving more, Roan also released a limited edition copper metallic 7” vinyl featuring The Subway (Side A) and a previously unreleased demo, I Hate It Here (Side B).
And if you caught our report last week (July 24), you already know Roan is hitting the road this fall with her pop-up tour Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things. The North American run includes four nights at Forest Hills Stadium in NYC (September 20, 21, 23, 24), two nights in Kansas City (October 3–4), and two more in Pasadena (October 10–11). Fans using a Cash App Visa debit card will get 15% cashback, and a portion of each ticket sold will be donated to organizations supporting trans youth in each city—a cause Roan continues to uplift with pride.
We love a queen with a mission and a melody.
Catch the full music video for The Subway below, and maybe bring tissues if you’ve ever fallen in love on a train platform. We know we have.
The Subway is available to stream on all major music platforms. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
Featured Image: Image Courtesy of Amusement/Island Records.
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