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Lift your jaws off the ground, and try to remember to both blink and breathe. Chappell Roan’s been teasing audiences with her newest power-pop ballad for over a year now. She’s performed it live, she’s given interviews about it, and the song has already gone viral on TikTok. Now, it’s finally making its way to a streaming service near you. Below, everything we’ve been through while waiting for “The Subway.”
June 9, 2024: Gov Ball debut
Roan performed the song for the first time dressed as Lady Liberty, belting out the chorus, “She’s got, she’s got a way,” with all her might.
Summer 2024: Festival run
Throughout the summer, she performed it at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and Outside Lands Festival. A video from the latter has well over a million views on YouTube.
Late summer 2024: It’s not out yet
In an August 2024 interview with Bowen Yang for Interview, Roan said she was planning on just singing the song live for a long time because “that’s how I did the first album and it fucking worked.” She followed up in a September 2024 cover story with Rolling Stone, noting, “I just like performing it.” She added, “I have two others that I really want to perform, too, [but] I don’t know what’s next. When I don’t know, it just hasn’t hit me yet because usually I know. I always have an answer. I don’t think it’s ‘Subway.’”
November 3, 2024: “The Giver” takes over
While making her debut on Saturday Night Live on an episode hosted by John Mulaney, Roan debuted her country-top anthem “The Giver.” The performance is much beloved online, but she doesn’t release even that track until March 13, 2025.
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A live recording of Roan singing the “She’s got a way” bridge soundtracks over 115,000 videos on TikTok. It’s usually behind stills from movies or TV shows captioned, “I’m so hungry I could eat …,” a reference to previous relationships in the characters’ or actors’ past that could be damaging to bring up. At other times, it’s just used to capture desperation.
April 17, 2025: Roan explains the delay
Roan finally gave much-needed insight into the release on Las Culturistas. “I’ve been banging my head against the wall with ‘The Subway,’ because some songs can work live — certain things can work live — and they don’t work in the studio,” she explained. She added, “It’s just going to feel different, and different doesn’t always mean bad. You just have to really take yourself out of it and be like, ‘This is different, and it’s okay.’”
August 1, 2025: It’s out
And this version is mellower. The production is reminiscent of ’90s alt rock — Sixpence None the Richer or the Cranberries. While the build to the bridge is still monumental combined with the vocal layering, it’s not as desperate as the live version.
In the music video, Roan is bedecked in a Cousin Itt–like wig situation, klutzing throughout New York City with her giant hair cascading down the fire escape and getting caught in taxi doors and, of course, on the subway. The video ends with her in Washington Square Park, sitting on her giant mane and eating pizza. New York’s always worth the wait.
