Mega-star Chappell Roan was born four years after Oasis released their debut album. Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, came out over a decade after Oasis broke up. On stage she dons elaborate, drag queen-like makeup and extravagant outfits — nothing like Noel and Liam Gallagher’s more casual attire. And yet, it turns out the two artists have something in common.
Released in September of 2023, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess featured several sleeper hits that did not begin earning national attention until the spring of 2024. One of them was “Red Wine Supernova.”
“I needed a campy gay girl song that captured the magic of having feelings for another girl,” Roan, who identifies as a lesbian, said about the single in 2023 (via Flood Magazine). “I packed the song with fun raunchy lyrics that make it feel like a night out flirting with the girl across the bar!”
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Growing up in a small town in Missouri, Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, struggled with expressing her sexual orientation — until she moved to Los Angeles and found a supportive community in West Hollywood’s gay bars.
“I grew up thinking being gay was bad and a sin,” she told The Guardian in December of 2023. “I went to the gay club once and it was so impactful, like magic. It was the opposite of everything I was taught.”
Roan penned a number of songs about this liberation, including “Red Wine Supernova,” which she said took her four years to write. “It was horrible,” she told MTV, explaining that it took multiple people to help complete it. “I hated that song for most of its life.”
Listen to Chappell Roan’s ‘Red Wine Supernova’
A Supernova With a Different Kind of Wine
Oasis fans will no doubt spot the song title’s similarity to “Champagne Supernova” from 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? Yes, the two are related.
“It’s like the gay girl version,” Roan told Glamour in May 2023. “Lesbian Oasis.”
The meaning and inspiration behind Oasis’ song is less clear.
“It means different things when I’m in different moods,” Noel said to NME the year the song was released. “When I’m in a bad mood, being caught beneath a landslide is like being suffocated. The song is a bit of an epic. It’s about when you’re young and you see people in groups and you think about what they did for you and they did nothing.”
Listen to Oasis’ ‘Champagne Supernova’
Lyrically speaking, the most direct connection between Oasis and Roan’s song are the lines having to do with toking up. “Where were you while we were getting high?” sings Liam. “I don’t care that you’re a stoner,” Roan sings.
But actually, the two songs mash up quite well, as evidenced below.
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Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp