Chappell Roan remains by far one of my favourite acts I’ve discovered in 2020, her track Pink Pony Club remains one of my favourite releases of this year and whenever I’m feeling down in lifts me straight back up. Today she’s released her emotionally evocative single California and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this hit me hard. With the situation that’s going on right now I haven’t been able to see my family for ages and the lyrical journey Roan takes us on makes the emotion feel all the more real but also offers us a shoulder to cry on.
“I questioned everything I knew the second I moved to California,” she explains. “It was terrifying because I felt very lost and alone. Although it was scary, I grew into a person I now love. I still struggle with feeling out place and making friends in Los Angeles, but releasing music and knowing that I can help someone with my songs proves to me that I must keep pushing forward.”
Lyrically this whole track is superb, each word captures that homesick feeling, the way we compare the positive and negatives of both areas only to realise the reasons for staying are becoming shorter and the fear of letting people down by going back to where you came from. As an artist it’s always hard to be transparent with your audience but Chappell Roan makes it seem like breathing with how beautifully raw and honest she is. An utterly outstanding single from an artist who we cannot get enough of.