At long last, we have new Chappell Roan music!!!!! Last night, Chappell released her hotly anticipated country single “The Giver,” which she first teased at the end of last year in her performance on Saturday Night Live. The lyrics suggest she fucks better than country boys, and it’s safe to say she makes better music than a lot of them, too.

With “The Giver,” Chappell joins a long legacy of queer country musicians, extending at least as far back as the 1970s with Lavender Country’s self-titled album, largely considered to the first known gay country album, but of course there could be more lost to time or from artists who were only out in certain contexts. Autostraddle writer and fellow queer country fan Stef Rubino turned me onto Lavender Country a couple years back, and if you’re a Chappell fan just dabbling in the genre, I definitely recommend. She also joins a legacy of queer musicians who mainly operate in a genre other than country but have played around in the genre for one-off projects, like Lady Gaga did for some of the songs on her studio album Joanne and Lil Nas X did for his breakout hit “Old Town Road.” Country has been queer, and Chappell also knows that. You’ll never catch her claiming to invent a subgenre. This is an artist who understands the roots, influences, and history that precede her, and her interviews about the single reflect that. It’s a perfect evolution and experiment for The Midwest Princess, because come on, can you really call yourself a Midwest Princess if you aren’t tipping your hat to country?

The influences that seem most clear for “The Giver” are big mid-90s/early-2000s country acts like The Chicks and Shania Twain. Lively fiddle backs the bouncy track, and it’s the kind of big country song that makes you want to belt and stomp your feet at the same time. The fact that it’s about confidently topping and satisfying your partner IN A GAY WAY? The cherry on top of this swinging country jam.

Yes, “The Giver” delivers everything Roan does best when it comes to songwriting: playful, overtly sexual, extremely gay lyrics. Forget “knee deep in the passenger seat” — almost every second of “The Giver” is packed with direct and cheeky lyrics about lesbian sex. “So take it like a taker / ‘Cause, baby, I’m a giver” the chorus echoes. It doesn’t feel like Chappell, who grew up surrounded by country music in Missouri, is playacting at a country performance; she’s really giving it, and her respect and passion for the genre comes out in the joyful composition of the song.

In addition to the song itself, I’ve been enjoying the promotional materials around it, including the photo series of Chappell dressed as various professions from a plumber to a dentist. A series of themed billboards and street signs also went up to promote the single, including one that riffs on the very REAL “your wife’s hot” air conditioning ads you can see throughout Florida where I live. These, along with a stylized retro infomercial for the single, were dreamed up by Chappell’s creative director Ramisha Sattar. In my opinion, we should be talking about Ramisha’s work every time we talk about Chappell’s artistry.

Now, I’ve seen a lot of chatter online in the past few days about Chappell Roan being “too commercialized” these days, so I just want to go on a little mini rant in response: If you are trying to critique Chappell for these marketing campaigns, you’re not actually frustrated with her; you’re frustrated with the music industry. Musicians always have to play the game of promotion campaigns and using singles to garner hype for eventual albums. Chappell — along with the creative direction of Ramisha — gets the job done in a way that at least still manages to be artistic. She’s the kind of pop star where every single detail — from her nails to what she wears to, yes, the marketing campaigns — aligns to make a big, bold queer spectacle.

She’s not reinventing the wheel with “The Giver” but rather pulling together a series of influences to still make something that feels distinctly her. That has been so true for so much of her career. It’s also why I am not the kind of fan who wants her to rush another album. I want her to take the time to make what she wants to make. She takes big swings; “The Giver” is an all-out stadium country banger. Not a single part of it is subtle, and that’s why I instantly love it.

I’d certainly welcome a full country album from her, but even if this is the only time she explicitly harnesses the genre, well, she nailed it on the first go. I’m certainly satisfied.

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