On a humid July afternoon, Chappell Roan is standing near the doors of a subway car, fiery red hair cloaking her pale, moonlike face. Only, the 27-year-old pop star—born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz—isn’t packed in with New York’s myriad commuters. Instead, she’s transformed a decommissioned car at the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn into a strobe-lit club to film the music video for her latest single, “The Subway.”

Ever since she debuted the song last year at the Governors Ball music festival, fans have pleaded for a studio recording. At first, Roan planned to release “The Subway” in April. Then she pushed it to June. Then July. When it dropped last Thursday night, she quickly ascended to the number one spot on the global Spotify chart, becoming the highest-streamed debut by a fema

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