The MTA is where yearners do their best work, so it’s only fitting that the music video for Chappell Roan’s latest single, “The Subway,” takes place on the rails of New York City’s metro system.
In the music video for her new track, out Aug. 1, Roan trudges through the streets of Manhattan behind a figure in a floor-length green wig as she sings, “I saw your green hair / Beauty mark next to your mouth / There on the subway / I nearly had a breakdown.” The singer follows the Grinch-like being into the subway, hopping the turnstile to be with her, only for the closing doors to slam in her face.
To cope with the heartbreak, Roan lays in a bed of her own hair for comfort — surprisingly not perturbed by the rats crawling all over her crimson locks. When she spots her ex from the back of a taxi, Roan slams the door on her Rapunzel-length hair and is dragged down the street as she declares, “I made a promise, if in four months this feeling ain't gone / Well, f*ck this city, I'm movin' to Saskatchewan.”
Finally back in her signature drag makeup, Roan finds herself in a party bus subway filled with flashing lights, sparkly miniskirts, and high heels, but she’s too consumed looking for the green-haired figure to enjoy herself. She takes a Citi Bike, her long red locks dragging behind her, before taking a dip in Washington Square Fountain. “She's got, she's got a way / She's got a way, she's got a way / And she got, she got away / She got away, she got away,” she laments.
“The Subway” is out now.
