With the release of Chappell Roan’s high-charting single, ‘The Subway’, comes the exciting renaissance of the iconic subway-set music video that, as some will remember, Sabrina Carpenter dropped alongside her 2016 pop hit, ‘Thumbs’. Both artists perform these respective songs from the brightly illuminated carriages of New York subway trains, swinging from the rails whilst surrounded by amusingly oblivious commuters. Chappell’s more solemn and surreal take on the subway depiction – reflected mostly by the exorbitant amount of hair she uses – mirrors the similar physical and mental journey that Carpenter experiences during her ride on the subway in 2016. It’s a well-known and often-used cultural backdrop; but why are we, as pop music video consumers, still just as enthralled with this transportive setting nearly ten years later?
Perhaps it is the versatility of the subway as a set that draws us in the most. Not only do the poles clearly lend themselves as a steady support around which the singers can swing themselves, the sliding doors of the train also create satisfying opportunities for smooth filming transitions and fun teleportation shots. Just as the subway provides a go-to performance space for the busker or even the odd flash mob, it gives the music video – and the songs themselves – a casual and spontaneous appearance.
However, the emotional quality of the subway cannot be underrated nor forgotten, especially regarding Chappell; a public but still enclosed space, the setting is familiar to us yet intimate enough to convey the emotion behind the song’s lyrics. The individual is somehow surrounded by people and simultaneously alone, off on a journey through the big, scary world, finally left to reminisce and reflect on the web of wistful thoughts that have been put to the side for the most part of their day.
There’s something to be said about being sad on a train, and we’ve all been there; we don’t care about the strangers around us seeing us when we’re down, and we even find a strange comfort in their distant, but constant, presence. Perhaps the subway, and trains in general, have come to represent a place of emotional safety in society, just as they provide for Chappell and Carpenter in these music videos. The train journey is a part of the daily routine, away from the prying eyes and ears of people we know, where we’re on our own but not completely lonely. We are comfortably alone, going somewhere whilst staying in one place. Safely enclosed in the train’s carriages, whilst seeking vast imaginative escape in our headphones.
And, most importantly, this journey – both literal and, of course, metaphorical – is one that repeats on and on, as we commute day after day and the trains fill up station by station. Perhaps we can’t get over the intriguing cultural influence of the subway simply because “it’s never over…”.
“Subway People” by futureshape is licensed under CC BY 2.0.