May 29th, 2024 8:53pm
Standing Face To Face With “I Told You So”
Chappell Roan “Good Luck, Babe!”
Chappell Roan’s primary songwriting partner is Dan Nigro, who’s best known for his work as Olivia Rodrigo’s primary songwriting partner. Roan and Rodrigo have different enough vibes that it wasn’t obvious to me that they had this in common, but knowing they share a collaborator makes their musical similarities come into sharp focus. The main thing I’ve noticed about Rodrigo is that it’s as though all her songs were written with the specific goal of becoming karaoke classics, and covering a range of what makes a great karaoke for different types of singers. Nigro’s work with Roan is on a similar wavelength, but I think the goal is more about creating songs that will crush in live performance. The best tracks on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess contain a lot of audience participation moments, and they’re typically the most fun parts of the song even if it can verge on sounding like a horny version of Kidz Bop. But in either case, Nigro is crafting very dynamic and theatrical pop rock music that pulls you in and makes you want to become a part of it whether you’re screaming along at a show, singing it at a karaoke bar, or belting it out in the shower.
“Good Luck, Babe!” is more of a shower song. If “Red Wine Supernova,” “Femininomenon,” and “Hot to Go” are transparently oriented towards the stage, this one feels more like it’s aimed at the radio. It’s easy to enjoy at face value – the melodies are strong and the groove is pleasant and Roan’s voice soars without getting distractingly bombastic or shrill. Roan can get silly in her songs but she never undermines or undersells a big feeling, and her vocal range is impressive enough that over the course of “Good Luck, Babe!” she’s pulling from the classic bag of power ballad tricks as well as more understated Kate Bush moves in her higher register. The emotional core of the song is potent and volatile, with lyrics that describe a fraught romantic sidepiece situation with enough specificity to be intriguing but relatable enough that it could totally wreck you if you happened to hear it in passing at a Walgreens in a fragile state. The verses tick-tick-tick, but once she’s crying out “I just want to love someone who calls me baby,” the feelings bomb goes ka-boom.
Buy it from Amazon.