"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
"My Kink Is Karma"
(2022)
"Femininomenon"
(2022)
"Casual"
(2022)

"Femininomenon" is a song by American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan. It was independently released on August 12, 2022, appearing on her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, through Amusement and Island Records in 2023.[2] Roan cowrote the song with Dan Nigro, who produced it with Mike Wise. The song chronicles Roan's dissatisfaction with dating men and calls for a "femininomenon" (a portmanteau of the words "feminine" and "phenomenon").[3]

The song found wider commercial success in the summer of 2024, becoming the fifth song from The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess to chart.

Background and writing

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When writing the song, Roan wanted it to sound different from her past releases. She and songwriter Dan Nigro wrote different sections of the track on different days before piecing them together during the recording process. In an interview with Earmilk, Roan said that she'd "been dreaming" of releasing a song like it for her entire career and took years to build enough confidence to sing how she does on it.[3]

Speaking with Cherwell, Roan describes the song as "slumber party pop". When asked about the song's meaning, Roan talked about queerness and her unsatisfying relationships with men, saying, "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."[4]

Critical reception

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"Femininomenon" drew widespread acclaim, with critics praising its energetic production, brazen vocals and campy lyrics. Olivia Horn of Pitchfork describes the single as 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!”"[2] Hannah Mylrea of NME writes that the song's opening strings are "the kind of arrangement that [indicate] an epic story is about to be told" before praising its "serious earworm of a chorus".[5] In a review of The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess for AllMusic, Neil Z. Yeung writes that the track "...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 demanding a "fucking beat.""[6]

Commercial performance

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Like other singles on Roan's debut album, "Femininomenon" didn't chart upon release. The track began growing in popularity in early 2024 following the success of Roan's first Hot 100 Top 10 hit, "Good Luck, Babe!", two years after its initial release.[7] In July 2024, the song debuted on the Hot 100 at number 96 following its use in a viral TikTok by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign.[8][9]

Personnel

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  • Chappell Roan - vocals, songwriting
  • Dan Nigro - production, synths, keyboards, piano, bass, programming, guitars, backing vocals, songwriting
  • Mike Wise - production, programming
  • Paul Cartwright - strings
  • Emily Williams - backing vocals
  • Mitch McCarthy - mixing
  • Randy Merrill – mastering

Source:[10]

Charts

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Chart performance for "Femininomenon"
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[11] 71
US Billboard Hot 100[12] 70

References

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  1. ^ "Chappell Roan doesn't care if she's going to hell". Washington Post. 2023-10-14. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  2. ^ a b Aniftos, Rania (2023-06-09). "Chappell Roan Is Ready To Shine — On Her Own Terms, and With Dan Nigro By Her Side". Billboard. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  3. ^ a b Treadgold, Emily (2022-08-17). "Chappell Roan wants to create a "Femininomenon" [Interview]". EARMILK. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  4. ^ Ribner, Sonya (2022-08-12). "Slumber Party Pop: A New Authenticity with Chappell Roan". Cherwell. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  5. ^ Mylrea, Hannah (2023-09-21). "Chappell Roan – 'The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess' review: unabashedly fun anthems". NME. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  6. ^ The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - Chap... | AllMusic, retrieved 2024-08-13
  7. ^ Lipshutz, Jason (2024-06-27). "The Rise (and Rise) of a Midwest Princess: 5 Numbers That Capture Chappell Roan's Current Explosion". Billboard. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  8. ^ Daw, Stephen (2024-07-23). "Kamala Harris Calls for a 'Femininomenon' This November With Chappell Roan Sync". Billboard. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  9. ^ McIntyre, Hugh. "Chappell Roan's Incredible Hot 100 Sweep". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
  10. ^ Chappell Roan - Topic (2023-07-31). Femininomenon. Retrieved 2024-08-13 – via YouTube.
  11. ^ "Billboard Canadian Hot 100: Week of August 17, 2024". Billboard. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  12. ^ "Billboard Hot 100: Week of August 17, 2024". Billboard. Retrieved August 13, 2024.