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). Produced by Dan Nigro and Mike Wise, "Femininomenon" is an alt-pop, dance-pop, new wave, and club track with electroclash influences. 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".^[1]

"Femininomenon"
Single by Chappell Roan
from the album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
Released	August 12, 2022
Genre	Dance-pop new wave alt-pop club
Length	3:39
Label	Amusement Island
Songwriter(s)	Kayleigh Amstutz Daniel Nigro
Producer(s)	Nigro Mike Wise
Chappell Roan singles chronology
"My Kink Is Karma" (2022) "Femininomenon" (2022) "Casual" (2022)
Audio
“Femininomenon” on YouTube

Background

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."^[2]

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."^[3]

Composition

“Femininomenon” has been described as an alt-pop, dance-pop,^[4] new wave,^[5] and club^[6] song with electroclash^[7] influences. The song opens with production consisting of strings^[8][9] and piano,^[10] as Chappell Roan reflects on an ex-partner who could not satisfy her.^[10][9][11] Before each chorus, she gradually increases the melodrama in tone and demands for a song to be played "with a fucking beat".^{[8][10][9][12]} During the chorus, the sound of a dirt bike revving is used in the background,^[2] before synthesizers are played.^[8] 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!").^[8][11]

Critical reception

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."^[2] 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".^[8] Hannah Mylrea of NME commented the song as having a "serious earworm of a chorus."^[10] 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."^[13]

Charts

Chart performance for "Femininomenon"

Chart (2024)	Peak position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[14]	69
US Billboard Hot 100[15]	66

Certifications

Certifications for "Femininomenon"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[16]	Gold	35,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[17]	Platinum	80,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[18]	Gold	15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[19]	Silver	200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[20]	Platinum	1,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.