Chappell Roan’s Latest Stunt Has Fans Convinced “The Subway” Is Coming

Feature image: Bauer-Griffin via Getty Images

It looks like Chappell Roan is ready to hit send on her long-awaited single “The Subway.”

Fans have been holding their breath since last summer, when Roan first performed the slow-burner at Governors Ball. Since then, she’s brought it to nearly every major festival stage, including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Primavera Sound. But the studio version? Still in transit — until now, it seems.

A series of very Roan-coded clues have begun appearing across New York City. Posters plastered to telephone poles show Roan with freshly cut bangs, rats in her hair, and a bread clip that reads “Best Before August 1.” The tagline: “Going through a break up? Get Bangs!” The cryptic campaign has fans convinced that “The Subway” is pulling into the station next Friday.

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Further stoking the fire, Roan was spotted earlier this month filming a video on the streets of New York. At one point, she stood on a fire escape while vivid red hair spilled dramatically onto the street like a modern-day Rapunzel.

Roan’s creative director, Ramisha Sattar, added even more intrigue by reposting a fan video on her Instagram Story. The clip showed a truck with a license plate reading “THE SBWY” heading toward Saskatchewan, Canada.

“The Subway” is a vulnerable breakup track chronicalling the heartbreak of seeing your ex everywhere, including, unfortunately, your train car. “I’m still counting down all of the days / ‘Til you’re just another girl on the subway,” Roan sings during live performances.

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In April, she opened up about the difficulties of translating the song from stage to studio. “I’ve been banging my head against the wall with ‘The Subway,’ because… some songs just work live — certain things work live — and they don’t work in the studio,” she told Las Culturistas. “For ‘The Subway,’ it’s just going to feel different, and different doesn’t always mean worse… You just have to really take yourself out of it and be like, ‘This is different and that’s okay.’”

She also acknowledged her perfectionist streak. “It’s called ‘demo-itis,’” Roan explained. “I get a demo, I hear it, I play it for my friend, and then I go back in and work on it, play it to them again, and they’re like, ‘I just like the other one better.’ Because you have demo-itis, because you’ve attached so much to this — you attach memories, you attach all of these things — to this one version of the song, but it’s actually not as good as the actual recorded version, straight up.”

With filming complete and teaser imagery making the rounds, it seems the release of “The Subway” is finally within reach.