Let’s talk about the meaning behind ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, an iconic song by Chappell Roan.
This 26-year-old star has already appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s Tonight Show, been a supporting act on Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour, and performed at major music festivals like Coachella and Governors Ball.
One of her most popular songs is, without a doubt, “Good Luck, Babe!” This song has been praised by several famous artists, and even Sabrina Carpenter did a beautiful cover of it! But what does the song mean? let’s dive into it.
The Meaning Behind ‘Good Luck
“Good Luck, Babe!” was written with Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter. According to Chappell, it is “about wishing good luck to someone who is denying fate.” Meaning, letting go of someone who won’t move from their fate and actions.
As a queer woman, Chappell Roan knew the exact feeling of frustration and understanding. As a matter of fact, she told Rolling Stone that she wrote the song in three minutes:
“I knew exactly what I wanted. I wrote it in three minutes,” she said to the magazine. “I felt so much anger. I was so upset. It all came out and I didn’t add anything when I wrote it all done. It was a perfect storm.
The song tells the relationship between the artist and another woman who is suppressing her feelings towards Roan just because she is a woman, having to conform to a heterosexual relationship, also known as compulsory heterosexuality or “comphet”.
According to the Choosing Therapy experts, ‘comphet’ or compulsory heterosexuality is a “pressure that people feel to live by heterosexual norms and behaviors, even if they do not desire to do so.”
This condition can negatively impact all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, however, it can affect the LGBTQ+ population to a greater extent, especially lesbian women.
Queer feminist, poet, and essayist Adrienne Rich popularized this term in her 1980 essay titled “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”. In essence, comphet refers to how heterosexuality is enforced as the norm.
Good Luck, Babe Lyrics and It’s Queer Impact
It’s fine, it’s cool
You can say that we are nothing, but you know the truth
And guess I’m the fool
With her arms out like an angel through the car sunroof
Then, the singer goes on by saying that she knows that love is a feeling nobody can fight, even if they try to burry it by kissing another man, drinking alcohol, partying or just making up excuses, it all ends up in a feeling of regret and the lost potential of being in a loving relationship just by choosing to be in a fake relationship that fits the societal norms:
You can kiss a hundred boys in bars
Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling
You can say it’s just the way you are
Make a new excuse, another stupid reason
Good luck, babe (Well, good luck)
Well, good luck, babe (Well, good luck)
You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling
Good luck, babe (Well, good luck)
Well, good luck, babe (Well, good luck)
You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling
That is why this song has such a strong impact on the queer community, garnering 7 million streams in its first week, reached Spotify’s Top 10, and debuted at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The impact is real and thousands of people have shared their experience and connection to the song. In the YouTube video, user @SquirtlePower809 shared:
“Woah. Not me JUST realizing what the lyrics mean and suddenly having to pull my car over and sob for an hour. This literally is my experience. The love of my life just couldn’t deal with being a gay man and after 3 years of a closeted relationship with him, he broke it off out of the blue and moved back to his hometown. I found out last year he got married to his old high school girlfriend and then ended his own life a year later. I’m still devastated.”
That’s how you know you have a real artist here. Because people are able to connect through the lyrics, which are not only vulnerable and raw, but also relatable to thousands of queer people from all around the world.
As the lyrics goes on, Chappell speaks about the struggles of having to “call it off” and the need to be openly loved by someone. Simply a heartbreak song masterpiece.
Chappell Roan’s Uniqueness
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, known by her stage name Chappell Roan is a singer, songwriter, and drag queen. She is 26 years old, born on February 19, 1998, in Willard, Missouri.
She pulls her style from drag, horror movies, burlesque, and theater, stating that she loves to look “pretty and scary” at the same time.
Chappell’s musical style draws influence from ’80s synth-pop and dark pop. Initially, her songs had another style, but she quickly changed it when she felt that it could become “boring” to perform “sad songs.”
