By now, we’ve all heard it and we all love it.
Let’s break down Chappell Roan's new iconic, sapphic classic.
The one and only Chappell Roan has previously released other WLW pop songs like “Red Wine Supernova” and “Naked in Manhattan,” both of which were hits. Part of why she’s so successful is that she speaks to niche, queer-specific tropes that the WLW community often faces. Like in “Naked In Manhattan,” she sings lines like:
“Boys suck and girls I've never tried… Touch me, baby, put your lips on mine. Could go to hell but we'll probably be fine.”
Shaking off religious trauma, exploring your sexuality? Hot, gay, relatable to many.
Now while both of these songs were instant queer classics, everyone seems to agree that there’s something extra special about “Good Luck, Babe.”
As a lesbian who specifically coaches and matchmakes LGBTQIA+ women, a common experience amongst us is that we may find someone who is sexually fluid, open to dating both genders, and who miiiiiiiight be in denial about where on the spectrum our relationship falls between friendship and romanticism. It can be so tricky for queer women to know (or admit) whether or not the intimacy and connection they share with another woman is attraction or something more platonic, and sometimes… well, they’re just kidding themselves. As Roan says,
“It’s fine, it’s cool / You can say that we are nothing, but you know the truth.”
The core of the song is as follows - Chappell has recently been involved with a woman who is downplaying their love affair as “nothing,” saying that Chappell is reading their intimacy wrong and it’s “just the way she is.” Chappell is lamenting over this, singing
“I don't wanna call it off / But you don't wanna call it love,” and goes on to say, “You can kiss a hundred boys in bars… Good luck, babe / You'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.”
I think we can all agree, kissing a hundred boys in bars would not, in fact, stop us from thinking about Chappell Roan.
She goes on to deliver an absolutely killer line later in the song’s bridge (which, has gotten quite a bit of attention as particularly catchy and sassy):
“When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night / With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife / And when you think about me, all of those years ago / You're standing face to face with ‘I told you so.’”
*Cue screaming*
It’s too good. We sapphics are finally having our moment in the music and film industry!
Now not to get all serious for a moment, but I also want to shout out our queer friends who might be on the other side of this story (in doubt, questioning their sexuality, likely to be filled with regret later while married to a man). Some of you have left us heartbroken, yes, but I know it’s not usually because you want to. I know there’s pressure on you to follow a certain social script. I know it’s scary to be queer. I know you may have wanted to make other choices and now are suffering the consequences. I want to remind you that the life you were meant to live, where you are fully and authentically your true self, is available to you at any time.
You can explore these things within yourself and it will only be a good thing. If at the end of that exploration, you’re still focused on dating opposite-sex people, I am sending you nothing but love and happiness. But if at the end of that exploration, you’re realizing you may be queer, please know there are resources and community available to you if you need them. Please don’t hesitate to contact our team for assistance if you could use help finding them.
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