Chappell Roan knows how to do a breakup song. On July 31, the singer released her new single “The Subway” after over a year of teasing the track, and it’s just as devastating and gut-wrenching as she made it sound live.
On “The Subway,” Roan waxes poetic about a lover that she’s having a hard time getting over, first triggered by seeing her ex on the New York City subway, where she “nearly had a breakdown.” In fact, she’s in so deep that she’ll even move out of the country if necessary. “I made a promise, if in four months this feeling ain’t gone, well, f*ck this city, I’m movin’ to Saskatchewan,” she sings.
Roan first debuted “The Subway” over a year ago at the 2024 Governors Ball festival in New York, the most fitting place to premiere the track (dressed as the Statue of Liberty to boot). She’s since included “The Subway” in many of her sets, most recently at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound festival, but had been hesitant to release the song, as she told the Las Culturistas podcast in March.
“I’ve been banging my head against the wall with ‘The Subway,’” she said. “Some songs just work live — certain things work live — and they don’t work in the studio. 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.’”
Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” Lyrics
Read the full lyrics to Roan’s “The Subway” below.
I saw your green hair, beauty mark next to your mouth
There on the subway, I nearly had a breakdown
A few weeks later, somebody wore your perfume
It almost killed me, I had to leave the room
It’s just another day
And it’s not over ’til it’s over, oh, it’s never over
It’s just another day
And it’s not over ’til it’s over, it’s never over
‘Til I don’t look for you on the staircase
Or wish you still thought we were soulmates
I’m still counting down all of the days
‘Til you’re just another girl on the subway
Made you the villain, evil for just moving on
I see your shadow, see it even with the lights off
I made a promise, if in four months this feeling ain’t gone
Well, f*ck this city, I’m movin’ to Saskatchewan
It’s just another day
And it’s not over ‘til it’s over, oh, it’s never over
It’s just another day
And it’s not over ‘til it’s over, it’s never over
‘Til I can break routine during foreplay
And trust myself that I won’t say your name
Yeah, I’m still counting down all of the days
‘Til you’re just another girl on the subway
She’s got, she’s got a way
She’s got a way, she’s got a way
She got, she got away
She got away, she got away
She’s got, she’s got a way
She’s got a way, she’s got a way
She got, she got away
She got away, she got away
She’s got, she’s got a way
She’s got a way, she’s got a way
She got, she got away
She got away, she got away
She’s got, she’s got a way
She’s got a way, she’s got a way
She got, she got away
She got away, she got away
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