"Pink Pony Club" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Chappell Roan | ||||
B-side | "Naked in Manhattan" | |||
Released | April 3, 2020 | |||
Genre | Synth-pop [1] | |||
Length | 4:18 | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Daniel Nigro | |||
Chappell Roan singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Pink Pony Club" on YouTube |
"Pink Pony Club" is a song by the American singer and songwriter Chappell Roan. It was released as a single through Atlantic Records on April 3, 2020, and later included on her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). Written by Roan and Daniel Nigro, "Pink Pony Club" is a synth-pop track that describes the story of a woman moving to Southern California from her home state of Tennessee, taking a job as a dancer at a gay strip club in West Hollywood despite her mother's wishes.
"Pink Pony Club" enjoyed largely positive reception amidst the rise of Roan's popularity after the release of its parent album, receiving praise for its musical composition and its story. The song drew commercial success four years after its initial release, charting within the top ten in the charts of Ireland, the top 20 in the United Kingdom, and the top 30 in the United States, becoming a sleeper hit as one of Roan's seven simultaneously charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100, along with "Good Luck, Babe!", "Casual", "Hot to Go!", "Red Wine Supernova", "Femininomenon", and "My Kink Is Karma". [2]
Chappell Roan was inspired to write "Pink Pony Club" after visiting The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood, California, in 2018. Roan, who had recently moved from her hometown of Springfield, Missouri, stated that visiting the bar was "the first time I could truly be myself and not be judged". [3] At the bar, she became enthralled with the performing go-go dancers, stating that seeing them "sparked [something] in me... I want[ed] to be a go-go dancer. So I just wrote a song about it." [4] According to Roan, she had previously struggled with accepting herself in Springfield, stating in Headliner, "I always had such a hard time being myself and felt like I'd be judged for being different or being creative", adding that the bar was "something that I couldn't really have experienced here in Missouri... It was completely eye opening and changed my direction from that point on." [5]
The song follows the story of a woman from a small town in Tennessee who moves to Southern California, taking a job as a stripper at a gay strip club [1] [6] [7] inspired by a local strip club in Roan's former hometown of Springfield, Missouri, that was in "all hot pink". [8] The woman's mother disapproves of the job upon hearing the news, saying to her daughter, "God, what have you done?" [7] However, despite her mother's opinions, the woman opts to stay at her job, stating that "I'm just having fun", having found in what was described in a Capital Buzz analysis as a "safe space where you feel free to be exactly who you are". [9]
The song was written by Roan and Dan Nigro in two days. [10] Initially, Roan's label at the time, Atlantic Records, tried to dissuade her from releasing the song as the company thought it deviated too much from Roan's past songs, leaving Roan "devastated", making her "second-guess herself". [11] According to Roan, Atlantic Records refused to release the song for a year before they relented. [1] "Pink Pony Club" was officially released on April 3, 2020. [3]
Along with the song's official release, an accompanying music video directed by Griffin Stoddard was released on the same day. [3] The video features cameos from drag queens Victoria "Porkchop" Parker and Meatball. [12] [13] Roan, who was visibly nervous in the music video, stated that she was "absolutely terrified" of her performance during production. [5] The video takes place in "a Midwest dive bar", with Roan, Porkchop, and Meatball performing on the bar's stage [14] to a few leather-clad bikers, eventually turning the bikers into "leather daddies". [7] In an analysis by The Conversation's Jonathan Graffam–O'Meara, it represents "the utopic potentiality of performance" for queer people from "the stultifying and oppressive real world that awaits performers and audiences outside of venues". [14]
Initially, the song received largely negative feedback according to Roan. [9] Upon the release of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess , "Pink Pony Club" received largely positive reception. Vulture's Rebecca Alter praised the song, describing it as a "synthy infectious bangarang... It's a stripper anthem that squeezes itself in perfectly with the likes of 'WAP' and 'Twerkulator,' just with a little bit more of a drama-kid kick." [7] In a review of the song's parent album, Pitchfork's Olivia Horn proclaimed "Pink Pony Club" to be a "bold and uproarious pop project stitched with stories about discovering love, sex, and oneself in a new place." [15] Both The Guardian 's Kitty Empire and BBC News ' Mark Savage credited the song as Roan's first career hit, with both describing the song as a liberating queer party anthem. [16] [17] Paste's Eric Bennett described the song as a "immediately memorable artistic statement", praising the song's chorus. [18] In response to the song's success, Roan stated in Capital Buzz to detractors of "Pink Pony Club", "it's like damn bitch, were you wrong? It was the worst time ever to release a gay club song [around the pandemic]. And it still had such an impact." [9]
Publication | List | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Billboard | The 100 Best Songs of 2024 | 32 | [19] |
Amidst Roan's rise in popularity, "Pink Pony Club" has been performed by Roan in various festivals and shows. The song has been performed at major United States music festivals as Roan's closing song, including the Boston Calling Music Festival, [20] the Capitol Hill Block Party, [21] the Hinterland Music Festival, [22] Outside Lands, [23] Lollapalooza, [24] and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. [25] It has also been performed at the Canadian Osheaga Festival. [26] The song has also been featured on the online video concert series NPR Tiny Desk. [27] On November 2, 2024, Roan performed the song on an appearance for Saturday Night Live. [28]
Over four years after its initial release, "Pink Pony Club" debuted at number 90 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending June 29, 2024. [29] The song has currently peaked at number 26 on the chart dated August 24, 2024. [30] Internationally, it has peaked within the top ten in Ireland [31] and within the top 20 in the United Kingdom. [32] "Pink Pony Club" has received a Platinum certification from both the Recording Industry Association of America and Music Canada, and Gold certification from both the Recorded Music NZ and the British Phonographic Industry. [33] [34] [35] [36]
Weekly charts
| Monthly charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [35] | Platinum | 80,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [36] | Gold | 15,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [34] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [33] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Country | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Various | April 3, 2020 | Atlantic | [‡ 1] | |
April 23, 2022 |
| [‡ 2] | ||
United States | November 5, 2024 | Contemporary hit radio | Island | [45] [46] |
December 16, 2024 | 7-inch vinyl |
| [‡ 3] |
Alecia Beth Moore Hart, known professionally as Pink, is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her rock-influenced pop songs, powerful contralto voice, and activism.
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Daniel Leonard Nigro is an American record producer and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band As Tall as Lions. Nigro has produced, written, and co-written songs for Sky Ferreira, Joe Jonas, Kylie Minogue, Caroline Polachek, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, Dermot Kennedy, Maisie Peters, and Conan Gray.
For music from a year in the 2020s, go to 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24
Victoria Beverley Walker, known professionally as PinkPantheress, is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her songs, which are frequently short in length and include samples of music from the 1990s and 2000s, span a number of genres, including alt-pop, bedroom pop, drum and bass, and 2-step garage. She has been nominated for three Brit Awards and was named Producer of the Year by Billboard Women in Music in 2024.
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, known professionally as Chappell Roan, is an American singer and songwriter. Working with collaborator Dan Nigro, the majority of her music is inspired by 1980s synth-pop and 2000s pop songs. Her aesthetic is heavily influenced by drag queens, and her music and performing style have been described by critics, including Rolling Stone, as "campy".
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"My Kink Is Karma" is a song by American singer Chappell Roan, released on May 6, 2022 as the second single from her debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). It was produced by Dan Nigro. The song became a sleeper hit in 2024, as one of Roan's seven simultaneously charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100, along with "Good Luck, Babe!", "Casual", "Hot to Go!", "Red Wine Supernova", "Pink Pony Club", and "Femininomenon".
"Femininomenon" is a song by the American singer Chappell Roan, released on August 12, 2022 as the third single from her debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). It was produced by Dan Nigro and Mike Wise. The song became a sleeper hit in 2024, as one of Roan's seven simultaneously charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100, along with "Good Luck, Babe!", "Casual", "Red Wine Supernova", "Hot to Go!", "Pink Pony Club", and "My Kink Is Karma".
"Red Wine Supernova" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan. It was released in May 2023 as the sixth single from Roan's debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The song began charting in April 2024, following the success of "Good Luck, Babe!".
"Hot to Go!" is a song by the American singer and songwriter Chappell Roan, from her debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). It was released through Island Records and Amusement Records on August 11, 2023, as the album's seventh and final single. She co-wrote the track with its producer Dan Nigro. "Hot to Go!" is a synth-pop track that takes influence from new wave in its instrumentation and vocal inflections. Described as a queer cheer song similar to the Village People's "Y.M.C.A.", it was inspired by Roan's childhood dream of wanting to become a cheerleader.
"Good Luck, Babe!" is a song recorded by the American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan. It was released as a standalone single on April 5, 2024, through Amusement Records and Island Records. She wrote the song with Justin Tranter and the song's producer Dan Nigro. A synth-pop, baroque pop, new wave, and soft rock track, "Good Luck, Babe!" references a compulsory heterosexual relationship, describing a lesbian woman trying to deny her romantic feelings for Roan and women in general. It received critical acclaim from music critics, who included it on several mid-year rankings of the best songs of 2024.
The Midwest Princess Tour was the second headlining tour from American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan, launched in support of her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Comprising eighty-nine shows, it started on September 20, 2023, at Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, Missouri, and concluded on October 13, 2024, at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.
"Casual" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan. It was released as a single on October 28, 2022 independently. It was later released as part of Roan's debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, through Amusement Records and Island Records as the fourth single from the album. She wrote the song along with Dan Nigro and Morgan St. Jean and Nigro is credited as producer along with Ryan Linvill. It is a dream pop song with country influences about casual dating, in particular a situationship between Roan and a love interest who is unwilling to commit.
"Naked in Manhattan" is a song by American singer and songwriter Chappell Roan. It was released independently on February 18, 2022. It would later become the lead single from Roan's debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, through Amusement Records and Island Records. She wrote the song with Dan Nigro and Skyler Stonestreet, with Dan Nigro on production. It is a synth-pop song about having a crush on a girl for the first time, drawing comparisons with the feeling of New York City.
"The Giver" is a song by American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan, marking her venture into the country music genre. It was first performed live during her debut appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on November 2, 2024. Written by Roan and produced by Dan Nigro, the song features traditional country instrumentation, including a fiddle, and explores themes of queer storytelling through subversion of conventional country lyrical norms.
In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):