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Femininomenon

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"Femininomenon"
Single by Chappell Roan
from the album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
ReleasedAugust 12, 2022
Genre
Length3:39
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Chappell Roan singles chronology
"The Hardest Part"
(2022) 		"Femininomenon"
(2022) 		"Casual"
(2022)

"Femininomenon" is a song by American singer Chappell Roan, released on August 12, 2022 as the fifth single from her debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). It was produced by Dan Nigro and Mike Wise.

Background

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Chappell Roan worked with Dan Nigro on the song, writing sections on different days and piecing them together. In an interview with Earmilk, she stated "I've been dreaming of releasing a song like this my whole career. It took years to build up the confidence to even sing in that style." Roan added, ""I always try to push myself and how I write pop music. I want to see if I can get away with being as ridiculous as I possibly can. I wanted a dance song. Something people could do drag to. A Queer anthem that had a sad undertone of what really happened to me, but with a beat."[1]

Speaking with Cherwell, Roan described the song as "slumber party pop". When asked about the song's meaning, Roan said, "It's about the confusion I have in relation to my sexual relationships with men. Something is not connecting. I feel like every man I've been with is never satisfying. With a woman, it's easy and different and wonderful. It's a phenomenon. It's a queer song – hidden in there...It's a phenomenon that this magical, perfect scenario somewhere out there exists, and it's probably a woman in my case."[2]

Composition

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The song opens with production consisting of strings[3][4] and piano,[5] as Chappell Roan reflects on an ex-partner who could not satisfy her.[5][4][6] Before each chorus, she gradually increases the melodrama in tone and demands for a song to be played "with a fucking beat".[3][5][4][7] During the chorus, the sound of a dirt bike revving is used in the background,[1] before synthesizers are played.[3] In the spoken-word bridge, Roan encourages women in a similar situation as her ("Ladies, you know what I mean, and you know what you need!").[3][6]

Critical reception

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Emily Treadgold of Earmilk remarked "the song somehow goes in a million different ways but fits together so well" and "It's all so fun and loud but so intricate."[1] Reviewing The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess for AllMusic, Neil Z. Yeung wrote the song "perfectly captures the album's ethos as it transforms from a sweet, string-laden ballad into a pulse-pounding empowerment anthem punctuated by a mid-song pep talk and hilariously escalating adlibs".[3] Hannah Mylrea of NME commented the song as having a "serious earworm of a chorus."[5] Olivia Horn of Pitchfork called it "a Frankenstein's monster that splices stacked vocals à la Lorde, ad libs à la Kesha, a synth that sounds like a groan tube, and the inane lyric 'Get it hot like Papa John!'—perhaps the pizza franchise's biggest pop crossover moment since they plastered Taylor Swift's face on their boxes."[8]

Charts

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Chart performance for "Femininomenon"
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[9] 69
US Billboard Hot 100[10] 66

References

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  1. ^ a b c Treadgold, Emily (August 17, 2022). "Chappell Roan wants to create a "Femininomenon" [Interview]". Earmilk. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  2. ^ Ribner, Sonya (2022-08-12). "Slumber Party Pop: A New Authenticity with Chappell Roan". Cherwell. Archived from the original on 2022-09-05. Retrieved 2024-08-20.
  3. ^ a b c d e Yeung, Neil (September 22, 2023). "Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess review". AllMusic. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Bennett, Eric (December 28, 2023). "Chappell Roan: No Album Left Behind: Chappell Roan Introduces Her Brazen, Theatrical Self on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess". Paste. Archived from the original on June 2, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d Mylrea, Hannah (September 22, 2023). "Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess review: unabashedly fun anthems". NME. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Franzini, Sam (September 21, 2023). "Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – big pop smashes lead the way | Pop". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  7. ^ Robinson, Otis (September 22, 2023). "Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess review". DIY. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  8. ^ Horn, Olivia (September 27, 2023). "Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess Album Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 1, 2024. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
  9. ^ "Chappell Roan Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  10. ^ "Chappell Roan Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
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