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Over the past couple months, billboards, posters, and a HOT-TO-GO phone hotline teased Chappell Roan’s newest release, “The Giver.” A playful spin on the country music that Roan grew up with, the song embraces queer sexuality with traditional country instrumentals and Roan’s stunning vocal skills.

Originally from Willard, Miss., Roan has always been surrounded by country music and wanted to create a country song that aligns with her identity, experiences, and persona.

“I’m not trying to convince a country crowd that they should listen to my music by baiting them with a country song. That’s not what I feel like I’m doing. I just think a lesbian country song is really funny, so I wrote that,” Roan said in an interview with Country Heat Weekly on Amazon Music.

Opening with a banjo and fiddle instrumental supported by a drumbeat, the track firmly establishes itself in the country genre before Roan even launches into the first verse. The fiddle remains prevalent alongside howls, and a “woo-hoo” in the background at the end of the third line sonically cements the song’s setting in a lively bar. These production elements beautifully marry Roan’s vibrant pop sound with the country style, a testament to her genuine connection with and appreciation of the genre.

The song’s lyrics feature country staples like deer head trophies and a revving truck, though Roan uses these tropes to separate herself from heteronormative narratives instead of entrenching herself within them. As she sings “Girl, I don’t need no lifted truck / Revvin’ loud to pick you up” in the second verse, Roan sets herself apart from the “country boy quitters” who leave women unsatisfied. Roan’s lyrics are bold, campy, and fun — repurposing country signifiers to unapologetically spotlight lesbian love.

The bridge, a simple repetition of Roan singing “na-na, na-na-na-na-na” with male backing vocals that chime in, “She gets the job done,” is unassuming but successfully builds tension and texture through a steady layering of vocals and instrumentals. Though the bridge seems utilitarian in the recording of the track, Roan’s live performances of the song may spice it up — her SNL performance of “The Giver” featured a spoken word bridge, for instance.

The genre switch in Roan’s latest single is more than a hop onto the pop-going-country bandwagon or a ploy to expand her audience. It’s an exercise in craftsmanship and connection to a genre of music to which Roan grew up listening. In “The Giver,” Roan pays homage to country classics while making the genre her own, putting the “midwest” in “midwest princess.”

—Staff writer Anna Moiseieva can be reached at anna.moiseieva@thecrimson.com.