Chappell Roan on YouTube.
I was off from OPE! reviews when Chappell Roan became Chappell Roan, who apparently was Chappell Roan for nearly a decade before she became who she was all this time. I don’t care. I do want an excuse to write about her, and her past Coachella set compelled me to sit with her music. I enjoy “Good Luck, Babe!” It’s a pop song I’ve heard out in the wild on the radio and thought, “Wait, what is this?” and not realizing who it is. Unlike “HOT TO GO!,” which I thought was Olivia Rodrigo until the radio DJ told me otherwise, “Good Luck, Babe!” does away with the talky-verse/soaring chorus structure that in a few years will feel incredibly dated. It’s just Roan singing. How refreshing. What a great falsetto. I’m just glad the song itself is strong without all the costume bells and whistles that seem to attract most people to Roan’s bit as a (compelling) performer. She probably grew up listening to Gwen Stafani’s “Cool” and thought, “One day, I’ll do better.” I think she almost did. She probably did. She would have been amazing in the MTV2 era.
-Brady Gerber
BACK TO OPE!